MARJORI E 

BY  JUSTIN  HUNTLY  MCCARTHY 


MARJORIE 


£L  SL  SL  BL  BL  BL  J 


MARJORIE 


BY 


[Justin  Huntly  McCarthy 


*/"  IF  I  WERE  KING  " 


_ 


Ob  Marjorie,  my  world1  s  delight 
Tour  yellow  hair  is  angel-bright, 
Tour  eyes  are  angel-blue. 
I  thought,  and  think,  the  sweetest  sight 
Between  the  morning  and  the  night 
Is  just  the  sight  of  you. 


R.  H.  RUSSELL 

1903 


is 


COPYRIGHT,  1903,  BY  R.  H.  RUSSELL 


First  Impression,  March,   1903 


Co 
ANTHONY    HOPE 


2137183 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  MY  APOLOGY i 

II.  LANCELOT  AMBER 7 

III.  THE  ALEHOUSE  BY  THE  RIVER  ....  15 

IV.  A  MAID  CALLED  BARBARA 29 

V.  LANCELOT  LEAVES 38 

VI.  THE  GENTLEMAN  IN  BLUE 54 

VII.  CAPTAIN  MARMADUKE'S  PLAN  ....  62 

VIII.  THE  COMPANY  AT  THE  NOBLE  ROSE       .  68 

IX.  THE  TALK  IN  THE  DOLPHIN    ....  72 

X.  SHE  COMES  DOWN  THE  STAIRS      .     .     .  81 

XL  A  FEAST  OF  THE  GODS 87 

XII.  MR.  DAVIES'S  GIFTS 91 

XIII.  To  THE  SEA ,     .     .     .  100  ' 

XIV.  THE  SEA  LIFE 105 

XV.  UTOPIA  Ho! 113 

XVI.   I  MAKE  A  DISCOVERY      ...          •     •   117 

vii 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  f  AGE 

XVII.  A  VISITATION    .     .     „     .     .     .     *     .  126 

XVIII.  THE  NIGHT  AND  MORNING      .     0     .134 

XIX.  How  SOME  OF  us  GOT  TO  THE  ISLAND  145 

XX. .  A  BAD  NIGHT 155 

XXL    RAFTS  „ .    ...  163 

XXII.  WE  LOSE  CORNELYS  JENSEN     .     ,     .168 

XXIII.  WE  GET  TO  THE  ISLAND    .     .     8     -179 

XXIV.  FAIR  ISLAND     . 190 

XXV.  THE  STORY  FROM  THE  SEA      .     .     .  205 

XXVI.   THE  BUSINESS  BEGINS      .     .     „     0     .214 

XXVII.   AN  ILL  TALE    . 232 

XXVIII.   WE  DEFY  JENSEN 241 

XXIX.   THE  ATTACK  AT  LAST  .....  249 

XXX.    OUR  FLAG  COMES  DOWN    .     .     .     .261 

XXXI.   A  PIECE  OF  DIPLOMACY  ..<,..  268 

XXXII.   THE  SEA  GIVES  UP  ITS  QUICK    .     .  280 

XXXIII.   THE  LAST  OF  THE  SHIP      ....  290 


vm 


MARJORIE 
CHAPTER    I 

MY  APOLOGY 

WHAT  I  have  written  may  seem  to  some,  who  have 
never  tossed  an  hour  on  salt  water,  nor,  indeed, 
tramped  far  afield  on  dry  land,  to  be  astounding, 
and  well-nigh  beyond  belief.  But  it  is  all  true  none 
the  less,  though  I  found  it  easier  to  live  through 
than  to  set  down.  I  believe  that  nothing  is  harder 
than  to  tell  a  plain  tale  plainly  and  with  precision. 
Twenty  times  since  I  began  this  narrative  I  have 
damned  ink  and  paper  heartily  after  the  swearing 
fashion  of  the  sea,  and  have  wished  myself  back 
again  in  my  perils  rather  than  have  to  write  about 
them. 

I  was  born  in  Sendennis,  in  Sussex,  and  my  earli- 
est memories  are  full  of  the  sound  and  colour  and 
smell  of  the  sea.  It  was  above  all  things  my  par- 
ents' wish  that  I  should  live  a  landsman's  life.  But 

l 


MARJORIE 

I  was  mad  for  the  sea  from  the  first  days  that  I  can 
call  to  mind. 

My  parents  were  people  of  substance  in  a  way 
— did  well  with  a  mercer's  shop  in  the  Main  Street, 
and  were  much  looked  up  to  by  their  neighbours. 
My  mother  always  would  have  it  that  I  came 
through  my  father  of  gentle  lineage.  Indeed,  the 
name  I  bore,  the  name  of  Crowninshield,  was  not 
the  kind  of  name  that  one  associates  usually  with  a 
mercer's  business  and  with  the  path  in  life  along 
which  my  father  and  mother  walked  with  content. 
There  certainly  had  been  old  families  of  Crownin- 
shields  in  Sussex  and  elsewhere,  and  some  of  them 
had  bustled  in  the  big  wars.  There  may  be  plenty 
of  Crowninshields  still  left  for  aught  I  know  or 
care,  for  I  never  troubled  my  head  much  about  my 
possible  ancestors  who  carried  on  a  field  gules  an 
Eastern  crown  or.  I  may  confess,  however,  that 
in  later  years,  when  my  fortune  had  bettered,  I  as- 
sumed those  armes  parlantes,  if  only  as  a  brave 
device  wherewith  to  seal  a  letter.  Anyway,  Crown- 
inshield is  my  name,  with  Raphael  prefixed,  a  name 
my  mother  fell  upon  in  conning  her  Bible  for  a 
holiname  for  me.  So,  if  my  arms  are  but  canting 
heraldry,  I  carry  the  name  of  an  archangel  to  bet- 
ter them. 

a 


MY    APOLOGY 

I  was  an  only  son,  and  my  parents  spoilt  me. 
They  had  some  fancy  in  their  heads  that  I  was  a 
weakling,  and  needed  care,  though  I  had  the 
strength  of  a  colt  and  the  health  a  sea-coast  lad 
should  have,  so  they  did  not  send  me  to  a  school. 
Yet,  because  they  set  a  store  by  book-learning — 
which  may  have  its  uses,  though  it  never  charmed 
me — I  had  some  schooling  at  home  in  reading, 
writing,  and  ciphering.  My  father  sought  to  in- 
stil into  me  an  admiration  for  the  dignity  of  trade, 
because  he  wished  me  to  become  a  merchant  in  time, 
with  mayhap  the  Mayoralty  in  perspective.  I  liked 
the  shop  when  I  was  little,  and  thought  it  a  famous 
place  to  play  in,  lurking  down  behind  its  dark 
counter  as  in  a  robbers'  den,  and  seeing  through 
the  open  door  of  the  parlour  at  the  back  of  the 
shop  my  mother  knitting  at  her  window  and  the 
green  trees  of  the  garden.  I  liked,  too,  the  folds 
of  sober  cloth  and  coloured  prints,  and  the  faces 
of  folk  when  they  came  in  to  buy  or  cheapen.  Even 
the  jangle  of  the  bell  that  clattered  at  the  shop 
door  when  we  put  it  to  at  meal  times  pleased  my 
ears,  and  has  sounded  there  many  times  since  and 
softly  in  places  thousands  of  miles  away  from  the 
Main  Street.  I  do  not  know  how  or  why,  but  the 
ding-clang  of  that  bell  always  stirred  strange  fan- 

3 


MARJORIE 

cies  in  my  mind,  and  strange  things  appeared  quite 
possible.  Whenever  the  bell  went  tinkle  I  began 
to  wonder  who  it  was  outside,  and  whether  by 
chance  they  wanted  me,  and  what  they  might  want 
of  me.  But  the  caller  was  never  better  than  some 
neighbour,  who  needed  a  button  or  a  needle. 

The  great  event  of  my  childhood  was  my 
father's  gift  to  me  of  an  English  version  of  Mon- 
sieur Galland's  book,  'The  Arabian  Nights'  En- 
tertainments.' Then  the  tinkle  of  the  shop  bell  as- 
sumed a  new  significance.  Might  not  Haroun  al 
Raschid  himself,  with  Giafar,  his  vizier,  and  Mes- 
rour,  his  man,  follow  its  cracked  summons,  or  some 
terrible  withered  creature  whom  I,  and  I  only, 
knew  to  be  a  genie  in  disguise,  come  in  to  catch  me 
by  the  shoulder  and  sink  with  me  through  the  floor  ? 

Those  were  delicious  terrors.  But  what  I  most 
learnt  from  that  book  was  an  unconquerable  love 
for  travel  and  an  unconquerable  stretching  to  the 
sea.  When  I  read  in  my  book  of  Sinbad  and  his 
Seven  Voyages  I  would  think  of  the  sea  that  lay 
so  near  me,  and  wish  that  I  were  waiting  for  a  wind 
in  a  boat  with  painted  hull  and  sails  like  snow  and 
my  name  somewhere  in  great  gold  letters.  I  would 
wander  down  to  the  quays  and  watch  the  shipping 
and  the  seamen,  and  wonder  whence  they  came  and 

4 


MY    APOLOGY 

where  they  went,  and  if  any  one  of  them  had  a 
roc's  egg  on  board.  I  was  very  free  for  a  child  in 
those  days,  for  my  parents,  still  fretting  on  my 
delicacy,  rarely  crossed  me;  and,  indeed,  I  was 
tame  enough,  partly  from  keeping  such  quiet,  and 
well  content  to  be  by  myself  for  the  hour  together. 

But,  when  I  had  lived  in  this  wise  until  I  was 
nearly  fifteen,  my  father  and  my  mother  agreed  that 
I  needed  more  book-learning;  and,  since  they  were 
still  loath  to  send  me  to  school,  they  thought  of  Mr. 
Davies,  the  bookseller,  of  Cliff  Street.  He  was  a 
man  of  learning.  His  business  was  steady.  He 
had  leisure,  and  was  never  pressed  for  a  penny,  or 
even  for  a  guinea.  It  was  agreed  that  I  should 
go  every  day  for  a  couple  of  afternoon  hours,  to 
sit  with  him  and  ply  my  book,  and  become  a  famous 
scholar.  Poor  Mr.  Davies!  he  never  got  his  will 
of  me  in  that  way,  and  yet  he  bore  me  no  grudge, 
though  it  filled  him  with  disappointment  at  first. 

There  was  a  vast  deal  of  importance  for  me, 
though  I  did  not  dream  it  at  the  time,  about  my 
going  to  take  my  lessons  of  Mr.  Davies,  of  Cliff 
Street.  For  if  I  had  not  gone  I  should  never  have 
got  that  tincture  of  Latin  which  still  clings  to  me, 
and  which  a  world  of  winds  and  waters  has  not 
blown  or  washed  from  my  wits;  nor,  which  is  far 

5 


MARJORIE 

more  important,  should  I  ever  have  chanced  upon 
Lancelot  Amber;  and  if  I  had  not  chanced  upon 
Lancelot  Amber  I  should  have  lost  the  best  friend 
man  ever  had  in  this  world,  and  missed  seeing  the 
world's  fairest  woman. 


CHAPTER   II 

LANCELOT  AMBER 

MR.  DA  VIES  was  a  wisp  of  a  man,  with  a  taste  for 
snuff  and  for  snuff-coloured  garments,  and  for 
books  in  snuffy  bindings.  His  book-shop  in  Cliff 
Street  was  a  dingy  place  enough,  with  a  smell  of 
leather  and  paste  about  it,  and  if  you  stirred  a  book 
you  brought  enough  snuffy  dust  into  the  air  to  make 
you  sneeze  for  ten  minutes.  But  his  own  room, 
which  was  above  the  shop,  was  blithe  enough,  and 
it  was  there  I  had  my  lessons.  Mr.  Davies  kept  a 
piping  bullfinch  in  it,  and  a  linnet,  and  there  was 
a  little  window  garden  on  the  sill,  where  tulips 
bloomed  in  their  season,  and  under  a  glass  case 
there  was  a  plaster  model  of  the  Arch  of  Titus  in 
Rome,  of  which  he  was  exceedingly  proud,  and 
which  I  thought  very  pretty,  and  at  one  time  longed 
to  have. 

Mr.  Davies  was  a  smooth  and  decent  scholar, 
and  when  he  was  dreamy  he  would  shove  his  scratch 
back  from  his  forehead  and  shut  his  eyes  and  recite 

7 


MARJORIE 

Homer  or  Virgil  by  the  page  together,  while  Lance- 
lot and  I  listened  open-mouthed,  and  I  wondered 
what  pleasure  he  got  out  of  all  that  rigmarole. 
The  heroes  of  Homer  and  of  Virgil  seemed  to  me 
very  bloodless,  boneless  creatures  after  my  kings 
and  wizards  out  of  Mr.  Galland's  book;  even 
Ulysses,  who  was  a  thrifty,  shifty  fellow  enough, 
with  some  touch  of  the  sea-captain  in  him,  was  not 
a  patch  upon  my  hero,  Sindbad  of  Bagdad,  from 
whose  tale  I  believe  the  Greek  fellow  stole  half  his 
fancies,  and  those  the  better  half. 

I  remember  still  clearly  the  very  first  afternoon 
when  I  presented  myself  at  Mr.  Davies's  shop  in 
Cliff  Street.  He  told  me  I  was  very  welcome,  as- 
sured me  that  on  that  day  I  crossed  the  threshold 
of  the  Muses'  Temple,  shook  me  warmly  by  the 
hand,  and  then,  all  of  a  sudden,  as  if  recollecting 
himself,  told  me  to  greet  my  class-fellow.  A  lad 
of  about  mine  own  age  came  from  the  window  and 
held  out  his  hand,  and  the  lad  was  Lancelot  Amber. 

I  have  seen  many  gracious  sights  in  my  time,  but 
only  one  so  gracious  as  that  sudden  flash  of  Lance- 
lot Amber  upon  my  boyish  vision.  As  he  came  for- 
ward with  the  afternoon  sunlight  strong  upon  him 
he  looked  like  some  militant  saint.  There  is  a  St. 
George  in  our  church,  and  there  is  a  St.  Michael 

8 


LANCELOT   AMBER 

too,  both  splendid  in  coat-armour  and  terrible  with 
swords,  but  neither  of  them  has  ever  seemed  to  me 
half  so  heroic  or  half  so  saintly  as  the  boy  Lancelot 
did  that  morning  in  Mr.  Davies's  parlour.  He 
was  tall  of  his  years,  with  fair  hair  curling  about 
his  head  as  I  have  since  seen  hair  curling  in  some  of 
the  old  Pagan  statue-work. 

The  boy  came  forward  and  shook  hands  with 
me  in  friendly  fashion,  with  a  friend's  grip  of  the 
fingers.  I  gave  him  the  squeeze  again,  and  we  both 
stood  for  a  moment  looking  at  each  other  silently, 
as  dogs  over-eye  one  another  on  a  first  meeting. 
How  little  it  entered  into  either  of  our  brains  that 
moment  of  the  times  that  we  should  stand  together, 
and  the  places  and  the  trials  and  perils  that  we 
should  endure  together.  We  were  only  two  lads 
standing  there  in  a  snug  first-floor  room,  where  yel- 
low parrots  sprawled  on  the  painted  wall,  and  a 
mild-mannered  gentleman  with  a  russet  wig  mo- 
tioned us  to  sit  down. 

Our  life  ran  in  current  for  long  enough.  We 
sat  together  at  Mr.  Davies's  feet — I  am  speaking 
metaphorically,  for  in  reality  we  sat  opposite  to 
him — and  we  thumbed  our  Cordery  and  our  Nepos 
together,  and  made  such  progress  as  our  natures 
and  our  application  permitted.  Mine,  to  be  hon- 

9 


MARJORIE 

est,  was  little  enough,  for  I  hated  my  grammar 
cordially. 

Lancelot  was  not  like  me  in  this,  any  more  than 
in  bodily  favour;  he  was  keen  of  wit  and  quick  of 
memory;  he  was  quick  in  learning,  yet  as  modest 
as  he  was  clever,  for  he  never  sought  in  any  way 
to  lord  it  over  me  because  I,  poor  dunce,  was  not 
of  such  nimble  parts  as  himself. 

It  was  the  hardest  task  in  the  world  for  me  to 
keep  my  eyes  and  my  fancy  upon  the  pages  of  my 
book.  My  eyes  were  always  straying  from  the 
print,  first  to  the  painted  parrots  on  the  walls,  and 
then,  by  natural  succession,  to  the  window.  Once 
there,  my  fancy  would  put  on  free  wings,  and  my 
thoughts  would  stray  joyously  off  among  the  salt 
marshes,  where  the  pools  shone  in  the  sunlight  and 
a  sweet  air  blew.  Or  I  would  stand  upon  the  downs 
and  look  along  the  curve  of  cliffs,  and  note  the  ships 
sailing  round  the  promontory,  and  the  flashes  of 
the  sea  beyond,  and  feel  in  fancy  the  breeze  blow- 
ing through  my  hair,  and  puffing  away  all  the  non- 
sense I  had  been  poring  over  in  the  room. 

At  such  times  I  would  quite  forget  myself,  and 
sit  staring  into  vacancy,  till  Mr.  Davies,  lifting  his 
nose  from  his  volume,  would  note  my  absence  and 
call  on  me  by  name,  and  thump  his  desk,  and  startle 

xo 


LANCELOT   AMBER 

me  with  some  question  on  the  matter  we  were  sup- 
posed to  have  in  hand.  A  mighty  matter,  truly,  the 
name  of  some  emperor  or  the  date  of  some  cam- 
paign— matter  infinitely  less  real  than  the  name  of 
the  ship  that  was  leaving  the  harbour  or  the  sun- 
light on  the  incoming  sail.  And  I  would  answer  at 
random  and  amiss,  and  earn  reproof.  Yet  there 
were  things  which  I  knew  well  enough,  too,  and 
could  have  given  him  shrewd  and  precise  answers 
concerning  them. 

Lancelot  Amber  was  never  much  my  companion 
away  from  Mr.  Davies's  room.  His  father,  whose 
name  he  perpetuated,  had  been  a  simple,  gentle  gen- 
tleman and  scholar  who  had  married,  as  one  of  his 
kin  counted  it,  beneath  him,  because  he  had  mar- 
ried the  woman  he  loved.  The  woman  he  loved 
was  indeed  of  humble  birth,  but  she  made  him  a 
fair  wife  and  a  good,  and  she  bore  him  two  chil- 
dren, boy  Lancelot  and  girl  Marjorie,  and  died  for 
the  life  of  the  lass.  Her  death,  so  I  learned,  was 
the  doom  of  Lancelot  Amber  the  elder,  and  there 
were  two  babes  left  in  the  wood  of  the  world,  with, 
like  the  children  in  the  ballad,  such  claims  upon 
two  uncles  as  blood  might  urge  and  pity  supple- 
ment. These  two  uncles,  as  Lancelot  imagined 
them  to  me,  were  men  of  vastly  different  stuff  and 

II 


MARJORIE 

spirit,  as  you  may  sometimes  find  such  flaming  con- 
trasts in  families.  The  elder,  Marmaduke  Amber, 
used  the  sea,  and  was,  it  seems,  as  fine  a  florid  piece 
of  sea  flesh  as  an  island's  king  could  wish  to  wel- 
come. His  brother,  Nathaniel,  had  been  a  city 
merchant,  piling  up  moneys  in  the  Levant  trade, 
and  now  lived  in  a  fine  house  out  in  the  swelling 
country  beyond  Sendennis,  with  a  fine  sea-view. 
Him  I  had  seen  once  or  twice;  a  lean  monkey 
creature  with  a  wrinkled  walnut  of  a  face  and 
bright,  unkind  eyes.  He  was  all  for  leaving  the  boy 
of  three  and  the  girl  of  two  to  the  small  mercies  of 
some  charity  school,  but  the  mariner  brother  gath- 
ered the  two  forlornlings  to  his  great  heart,  and 
with  him  they  had  lived  and  thriven  ever  since. 
Now  it  seems  Captain  Marmaduke  was  on  a  voyage 
to  the  Bermudas  and  taking  the  maid  with  him, 
while  the  boy,  to  better  his  schooling  and  strengthen 
his  body  with  sea  air,  was  sent  to  Sendennis  to  stay 
with  his  other  uncle,  Nathaniel  Amber,  now,  to  all 
appearance,  reconciled  to  the  existence  of  his  young 
relative.  This  uncle,  as  I  gathered,  did  not  at  first 
approve  overmuch  of  Lancelot  taking  lessons  in 
common  with  a  single  mercer's  son,  but  Mr.  Davies, 
I  believe,  spoke  so  well  of  me  that  the  arrangement 
was  allowed  to  hold. 

12 


LANCELOT   AMBER 

But  after  lesson  hours  were  done  Lancelot  had 
always  to  go  back  to  his  uncle's,  and  though  I 
walked  part  of  the  way,  or  all  the  way,  with  him 
most  days  of  the  week,  I  was  never  bidden  inside 
those  doors.  Lancelot  told  me  that  he  had  more 
than  once  besought  leave  to  bring  me  in,  but  that 
the  old  gentleman  was  obdurate.  So,  save  in  those 
hours  of  study  in  the  parrot-papered  room,  I  saw 
but  little  of  Lancelot. 

I  never  expected  to  be  asked  inside  the  doors 
of  the  great  house  where  Lancelot's  days  were 
passed,  and  I  did  not  feel  any  injustice  in  the  mat- 
ter. I  was  only  a  mercer's  son,  while  Lancelot  de- 
rived of  gentlefolk,  and  it  never  entered  into  my 
mind  to  question  the  existing  order  of  things,  or  to 
wish  to  force  my  way  into  places  where  I  was  not 
wanted.  Excellent  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic  have  made  very  different  opinions 
popular  from  the  opinions  that  prevailed  with  me 
in  my  youth.  Indeed,  I  myself  have  now  been  long 
used  to  associate  with  the  great  folk  of  the  earth, 
and  have  found  them  in  all  essential  matters  very 
much  like  other  men.  I  have  had  the  honour  of 
including  more  than  one  king  amongst  my  acquaint- 
ances, and  have  liked  some  and  not  liked  others, 
just  as  if  they  were  plain  Tom  or  Harry.  But  in 

13 


MARJORIE 

the  days  of  my  youth  I  should  have  as  soon  ex- 
pected to  be  welcomed  at  St.  James's  as  to  be  wel- 
comed in  the  great  house  where  Lancelot's  uncle 
lived. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  ALEHOUSE  BY  THE  RIVER. 

THREE  years  after  I  went  to  learn  under  Mr. 
Davies,  of  Cliff  Street,  my  father  died. 

I  remember  with  a  kind  of  terror  still,  through 
all  these  years,  when  death  of  every  kind  has  been 
so  familiar  to  me,  how  the  news  of  that  death  came 
upon  me.  I  had  no  realisation  of  what  death  meant 
till  then.  I  had  heard  of  people  dying,  of  course; 
had  watched  the  black  processions  creeping,  plumed 
and  solemn,  along  the  streets  to  the  churchyard; 
had  noted  how  in  any  circle  of  friends  now  one  and 
now  another  falls  away  and  returns  to  earth.  I 
knew  that  all  must  die,  that  I  must  die  myself,  as 
I  knew  a  lesson  got  by  heart  which  has  little  mean- 
ing to  the  unawakened  ear.  But  now  it  came  on  me 
with  such  a  stabbing  knowledge  that  for  a  little 
while  I  was  almost  crazy  with  the  grief  and  the 
fear. 

But  the  sorrow,  like  all  sorrows,  lessened  with 
15 


MARJORIE 

time.  There  was  my  mother  to  cheer;  there  was 
my  schooling  to  keep ;  there  was  the  shop  to  look 
after. 

My  father  had  thriven  well  enough  to  lay  by  a 
small  store,  but  my  mother  kept  the  shop  on,  partly 
for  the  sake  of  my  father,  whose  pride  it  was,  partly 
because  it  gave  her  something  to  occupy  her  wid- 
owed life,  and  partly  because,  as  Mr.  Davies  point- 
ed out  to  her,  there  would  be  a  business  all  ready 
for  me  when  I  was  old  enough  to  step  into  it.  In 
the  meantime  my  life  was  simple  enough.  When 
I  was  not  taking  my  schooling  with  Lancelot  I  was 
tending  the  shop  with  mother;  and  when  I  was 
doing  neither  of  these  things  I  was  free  to  wander 
about  the  town  much  as  I  pleased. 

Our  town  was  of  a  tidy  size,  running  well  back 
from  the  sea  up  a  gentle  and  uneven  acclivity,  which 
made  all  the  streets  that  stemmed  from  the  border 
slightly  steep,  and  some  of  them  exceedingly  so. 
Upon  the  coast  line,  naturally  enough,  lay  the  busi- 
est part  of  the  hive;  a  comely  stretch  of  ample 
docks  and  decent  wharves  along  the  frontage  of 
the  town,  and,  straggling  out  along  the  horns  of 
the  harbour,  a  maze  of  poorer  streets,  fringed  at 
the  waterside  with  boozing-kens,  low  inns,  sailors' 
lodging-houses,  and  crimperies  of  all  kinds.  There 

16 


THE   ALEHOUSE   BY  THE   RIVER 

were  ticklish  places  for  decent  folk  to  be  found  in 
lying  to  right  and  left  of  the  solemn  old  town — 
aye,  and  within  ten  minutes'  walk  of  the  solemn  old 
market-square,  where  the  effigy  of  Sir  William  Wal- 
let, the  goodly  and  godly  Mayor  of  many  years 
back,  smiled  upon  the  stalls  of  the  hucksters  and  the 
fine  front  of  the  town-hall.  If  you  strayed  but  a 
little  way  from  the  core  of  the  town  you  came  into 
narrow,  kinkled  streets,  where  nets  were  stretched 
across  from  window  to  window  drying;  and  if  you 
persevered  you  came,  by  cobbly  declivities,  to  the 
bay  shore,  and  to  all  the  odd  places  that  lay  along 
it,  and  all  the  odd  people  that  dwelt  therein. 

Of  course,  with  the  inevitable  perversity  of  boy- 
hood, it  was  this  degenerate  quarter  of  the  town 
which  delighted  me.  I  cared  nothing,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  for  the  fine-fronted  town-hall,  nor  for  the 
solemn  effigy  of  Sir  William  Wallet.  I  had  not  the 
least  desire  ever  to  be  a  functionary  of  importance 
in  the  building,  ever  to  earn  the  smug  immortality 
of  such  a  statue.  I  am  sorry  to  say  the  places  I 
cared  for  were  those  same  low-lived,  straggling, 
squalid,  dangerous  regions  which  hung  at  one  end  of 
respectable  little  Sendennis  like  dirty  lace  upon  a 
demure  petticoat.  In  the  early  days  of  my  acquaint- 
ance with  those  regions  I  must  confess  that  I  entered 

17 


MARJORIE 

them  with  a  certain  degree  of  fear  and  trembling; 
but  after  a  while  that  feeling  soon  wore  off,  when 
I  found  that  no  one  wanted  to  do  me  any  harm. 
Indeed,  the  dwellers  in  those  parts  were  generally 
too  much  occupied  in  drinking  themselves  drunk 
and  sleeping  themselves  sober  to  note  an  unremark- 
able lad  like  me.  As  for  their  holiday  time,  they 
passed  it  so  largely  in  quarrelling  savagely,  and 
occasionally  murderously,  amongst  themselves  that 
they  had  scant  leisure  to  pay  any  heed  to  me.  For 
the  rest,  these  Sendennis  slums  were  not  conspicu* 
ously  evil.  You  will  find  just  the  same  places  in  any 
seaport  town,  great  or  little,  in  the  kingdom.  But 
there  was  one  spot  in  Sendennis  which  I  do  not  thinlr 
that  it  would  be  easy  to  match  in  any  other  town, 
although,  perhaps  to  say  this  may  be  but  a  flash  o^ 
provincial  pride  on  my  part. 

A  good  way  from  the  town,  and  yet  before  thf 
river  fairly  widens  into  an  estuary,  there  stood  a 
certain  hostel,  or  inn,  which  it  was  my  joy  and  my 
sorrow  to  haunt.  It  stood  by  the  water's  edge  in  a 
kind  of  little  garden  of  its  own;  a  dreary  place, 
where  a  few  sickly  plants  tried  to  hold  their  own 
against  neglect  and  the  splashings  of  rinsed  glasses. 
There  was  a  wooden  terrace  at  the  back  of  this 
place — the  back  overlooked  the  river,  while  the 

18 


THE   ALEHOUSE   BY  THE   RIVER 

front  was  on  the  by-road — and  here  the  habitual 
revellers,  the  haunters,  whose  scored  crosses  lent 
the  creaking  shutters  an  unnatural  whiteness  over 
their  weather-beaten  surface,  dark  with  age  and 
dirt,  loved  to  linger  of  a  summer  evening,  and  ply 
the  noggin  and  fill  the  pipe. 

There  was  an  old  fiddler,  a  kind  of  Orpheus  of 
the  slums,  who  would  sometimes  creep  in  there  and 
take  his  post  in  a  corner  and  begin  to  play,  happy 
if  the  mad  lads  threw  him  halfpence,  or  thrust  a 
half-drained  tankard  under  his  tearful  old  nose: 
happy,  too,  if  they  did  not — as  they  often  did — 
toss  the  cannikin  at  him  out  of  mere  lightness  of 
heart  and  drunkenness  of  wit.  He  used  to  play  the 
quaintest  old  tunes,  odd  border-side  ballad  airs,  that 
seemed  to  go  apace  with  blithe  country  weddings 
and  decent  pastoral  merry-makings  of  all  kinds,  and 
to  be  strangely  out  of  suits  with  that  brotherhood 
of  rakehells,  smugglers,  and  desperadoes  who  gam- 
bled and  drank,  and  swore  and  quarrelled,  while  the 
poor  old  fellow  worked  his  catgut. 

Lord,  Lord,  how  the  memory  of  it  all  comes  back 
upon  me  while  I  write !  I  have  but  to  close  my  eyes, 
and  my  fancy  brings  me  back  to  that  alehouse  by 
the  river,  to  a  summer's  eve  with  its  golden  shafts 
falling  on  the  dingy  woodwork  and  lending  it  a 

19 


MARJORIE 

pathetic  glory,  upon  the  shining  space  of  dwindled 
water  in  the  middle  of  its  banks  of  glistening  mud, 
and  there  in  the  corner  the  pinched  old  rogue  in  his 
ragged  bodygear  scraping  away  at  'Barbara  Allen,' 
or  'When  first  I  saw  thy  face,'  or  'The  Bailiff's 
Daughter  of  Islington,'  while  the  leering  rascals  in 
the  pilot  coats  and  the  flap-eared  caps  huddled  to- 
gether over  their  filthy  tables,  and  swigged  their 
strong  drink  and  thumbed  their  greasy  cards  and 
swore  horribly  in  all  the  lingoes  of  Babel. 

One  such  summer  evening  surges  up  before  me 
with  a  crimson  smear  across  its  sunlight.  There 
was  a  Low  Country  fellow  there,  waist  deep  in 
schnapps,  and  a  Finlander  sucking  strong  beer  like 
a  hog.  Meinheer  and  the  Finn  came  to  words  and 
blows,  and  I,  who  was  sitting  astride  of  the  railing 
staring,  heard  a  shrill  scream  from  the  old  man 
and  a  rattle  as  he  dropped  his  fiddle,  and  then  a 
flash  and  a  red  rain  of  blood  on  the  table  as  my  Finn 
fell  with  a  knife  in  him,  the  Hollander's  knife, 
smartly  pegged  in  between  the  left  breast  and  the 
shoulder.  I  declare  that,  even  in  my  excitement 
at  that  first  sight  of  blood  drawn  in  feud,  my  boyish 
thought  was  half  divided  between  the  drunken 
quarrel  and  the  poor  old  fiddler,  all  hunched  to- 
gether on  the  ground  and  sobbing  dry-eyed 

20 


THE   ALEHOUSE   BY  THE   RIVER 

in  a  kind  of  ecstasy  of  fear  and  horror.  I  heard 
afterwards  that  he  had  a  son  knifed  to  his  death 
in  a  seaman's  brawl,  and  never  got  over  it.  As  for 
the  Finn,  they  took  him  home  and  kept  it  dark,  and 
he  recovered,  and  may  be  living  yet  for  all  I  know 
to  the  contrary,  and  a  perfect  pattern  to  the  folk  in 
Finland. 

That  inn  had  a  name,  stranger  I  have  never 
heard;  and  a  sign,  stranger  I  have  never  seen; 
though  I  have  wandered  far  and  seen  more  than  old 
Ulysses  in  the  school-book  ever  dreamt  of.  It  was 
called  the  Skull  and  Spectacles ;  and  if  its  name  was 
at  once  horrible  and  laughable,  its  sign  was  more 
devilish  still.  For  instead  of  any  painted  board, 
swinging  pleasantly  on  fair  days  and  creaking  lustily 
on  foul,  there  stood  out  over  the  inn  door  a  kind 
of  bracket,  and  on  that  bracket  stood  a  human  skull, 
so  parched  and  darkened  by  wind  and  weather  that 
it  looked  more  fearful  than  even  a  caput  mortuum 
has  a  right  to  look. 

On  the  nose  of  this  grisly  reminder  of  our  mor- 
tality some  wag — or  so  I  suppose,  but  perhaps  he 
was  a  cynic — had  stuck  a  great  pair  of  glassless 
barnacles  or  goggles.  It  was  a  loathly  conceit,  and 
yet  it  added  vastly  to  the  favour  of  the  inn  in  the 
minds  of  those  wildings  that  haunted  it.  Must  I 

21 


MARJORIE 

add  that  it  did  so  in  mine  too,  who  should  have 
known  better?  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  fascina- 
tion of  that  sign,  perhaps  I  might  have  kept  better 
company,  and  never  done  what  I  did  do,  and  never 
written  this  history. 

When  first  I  happened  upon  the  Skull  and  Spec- 
tacles it  attracted  me  at  once.  Its  situation,  in  the 
middle  of  that  wilderness  of  mouldering  wharves, 
decaying  gardens,  and  tumble-down  cottages,  was 
in  itself  an  invitation  to  the  eye.  Then  the  devilish 
mockery  of  its  sign  was  an  allurement.  It  looked 
like  some  fantastical  tavern  in  a  dream,  and  not  a 
thing  of  real  timber. 

The  oddness  of  the  place  tickled  my  adventurous 
palate,  the  loathsomeness  of  the  sign  gripped  me 
hardly  by  the  heart  and  made  my  blood  run  icily 
for  an  instant.  Who  does  not  recall  to  mind  mo- 
ments and  places  when  he  seems  to  have  stepped  out 
of  the  real  living  world  into  some  grey,  uncanny 
land  of  dreams,  where  the  very  air  is  thick  and 
haunted  with  some  quality  of  unknown  fear  and 
unknown  oppression?  So  it  seemed  to  me  when  I 
first  saw  the  Skull  and  Spectacles  with  its  death's- 
head  smirking  welcome  and  the  river  mud  oozing 
about  its  timbers.  But  the  place  piqued  me  while  it 
frightened  me,  and  I  pulled  my  courage  together 

22 


THE  ALEHOUSE   BY  THE   RIVER 

like  a  coat,  buttoned  it  metaphorically  about  me, 
and  entered. 

Like  many  another  enterprise  upon  which  we 
enter  with  a  beating  heart,  the  preface  was  infinitely 
more  alarming  than  the  succeeding  matter.  There 
was  no  one  in  the  bar-parlour  when  I  entered  save 
a  sailor,  who  was  sleeping  a  drunken,  stertorous 
sleep  in  a  corner.  From  the  private  parlour  beyond, 
when  I  entered,  a  man  came  out,  a  burly  seafaring 
man,  who  asked  me  shortly,  but  not  uncivilly,  what 
I  wanted.  I  called  for  a  jug  of  ale.  He  brought 
it  to  me  without  a  word,  together  with  a  hunch  of 
bread,  set  them  before  me,  and  left  me  alone  again, 
going  into  his  snuggery  at  the  back,  and  drawing  the 
door  after  him  jealously. 

I  sat  there  for  some  little  time,  sipping  my  ale 
and  munching  my  bread — and  indeed  the  ale  was 
excellent;  I  have  never  tasted  better — and  looking 
at  the  grimy  wall,  greasy  with  the  rubbings  of  many 
heads  and  shoulders,  scrawled  all  over  with  sums, 
whose  addition  seemed  to  have  mightily  perplexed 
the  taproom  arithmeticians,  and  defiled  with  in- 
scriptions of  a  foul,  loose-witted,  waterside  lubricity 
that  made  me  blush  and  feel  qualmish.  But  I  found 
a  furtive  enjoyment  in  the  odd  place,  and  the  snor- 
ing sailor,  and  the  low  plashing  of  the  estuary 

23 


MARJORIE 

against  the  decaying  timbers,  and  the  silence  of  soli- 
tude all  around. 

Presently  the  door  was  pushed  open;  but  before 
anyone  could  come  in  I  was  made  to  jump  from  my 
seat  in  a  kind  of  terror,  for  a  voice  sang  out  sharply 
just  above  my  head  and  startled  me  prodigiously. 

'Kiss  me — kiss  me — kiss  me — kiss  me!'  the 
strange  voice  screamed  out.  'Kiss  me  on  the  lips 
and  eyes  and  throat  I  kiss  me  on  the  breast !  kiss 
me — kiss  me — kiss  me !' 

I  turned  up  my  eyes  and  noted  above  my  head 
what  I  had  not  seen  before — a  cage  swinging  fron? 
the  rafters,  and  in  it  a  small  green  parrot,  with  fiery 
eyes  that  glowed  like  blazing  rubies. 

It  went  rattling  on  at  an  amazing  rate,  adjuring; 
its  hearers  to  kiss  it  on  all  parts  of  the  body  with. 
a  verbal  frankness  that  was  appalling,  and  with  a 
distinctness  which  even  pricked  the  misty  senses  of 
the  slumberer,  who  peevishly  turned  in  his  sleep 
and  stuttered  out  a  curse  at  me  to  keep  still. 

As  the  human  voice  called  me  back  from  my 
<<!ontemplation  of  that  infernal  old  bird  my  lowered 
eyes  looked  on  the  doorway.  The  door  was  wide 
open,  and  a  girl  stood  framed  in  the  gap,  gazing  at 
me.  Lord,  how  the  blood  rushed  into  my  face  with 
wonder  and  delight,  for  I  thought  then  that  I  had 

24 


THE   ALEHOUSE   BY  THE   RIVER 

never  seen  anything  before  so  beautiful!  Indeed, 
I  think  now  that  of  that  kind  of  beauty  she  was  as 
perfect  as  a  woman  could  wish  to  be,  or  a  man  could 
wish  to  have  her.  She  smiled  a  little  into  my  crim- 
son, spell-bound  face,  wished  me  good-morning 
pleasantly,  gave  a  kind  of  little  whistle  of  recogni- 
tion to  the  bird,  who  never  left  off  screaming  and 
yelling  his  vociferous  desire  for  kisses,  and  then, 
swinging  the  door  behind  her,  crossed  the  floor, 
and,  passing  into  the  parlour,  disappeared  from  my 
gaze. 

Immediately  the  parrot's  clamour  came  to  a  dead 
pause.  The  semi-wakened  sailor  dropped  into  his 
sodden  snooze  again,  and  all  was  quiet.  I  waited 
for  some  little  time  with  my  eyes  on  the  parlour 
door,  but  it  did  not  open  again;  and  as  no  one 
came  in  from  outside,  and  I  needed  no  more  either 
of  drink  or  victual,  I  felt  that  I  must  needs  be 
trudging.  So  I  drained  my  can  to  the  black  eyes 
of  my  beauty,  clucked  at  the  parrot,  who  merely 
swung  one  crimson  eye  round  as  if  he  were  taking 
aim  and  glared  ferociously,  signed  a  farewell  to 
the  parlour  door,  and  passed  out  into  the  world 
again.  The  Skull  and  Spectacles  had  gained  a  de- 
voted customer. 

Ah,  me!  I  went  there  a  world  of  times  after 
25 


MARJORIE 

that.  I  am  afraid  my  poor  mother  thought  me  a 
sad  rogue,  for  I  would  slip  away  from  the  shop  for 
a  whole  afternoon  together,  on  the  plea  of  needing 
a  walk ;  but  my  walk  always  led  me  to  that  terrible 
inn.  I  soon  became  a  familiar  figure  to  its  ill- 
favoured  master  and  his  beautiful  niece.  The  land- 
lord of  the  Skull  and  Spectacles  had  been  a  seaman 
in  his  youth,  and  told  tales  of  the  sea  to  guests  who 
paid  their  score.  He  had  a  cadet  brother  who  was 
a  seaman  still,  and  who  drifted  out  of  longshore 
knowledge  for  great  gaps  of  time,  and  came  back 
again  liker  to  mahogany  than  he  had  been  before, 
a  thought  more  abundant  in  blasphemy,  and  a  great 
deal  richer  in  gold  pieces  with  the  heads  of  every 
king  in  Christendom  stamped  upon  them. 

It  was  this  wanderer's  daughter  who  made  the 
place  my  paradise.  She  was  a  tall,  largely  made 
girl,  of  a  dark  favour,  with  eyes  of  black  fire,  and 
with  a  warm,  Spanish  kind  of  skin,  olive-toned  with 
rich  reds  under,  and  the  whitest,  wonderfullest 
teeth,  and  a  bush  of  black  hair  that  was  a  marvel. 
She  would  let  it  down  often  enough,  and  it  hung 
about  her  body  till  it  reached  the  back  of  her  knees. 
Lord  knows  who  her  mother  was.  I  never  knew, 
and  she  said  she  never  knew.  Her  father  brought 
her  home  much  as  he  had  brought  the  parrot  home, 

26 


THE   ALEHOUSE   BY  THE   RIVER 

but  I  could  never  think  other  than  that  she  was  the 
child  of  some  Spanish  woman  he  had  wooed,  and,  it 
is  to  be  hoped,  wedded,  though  I  doubt  if  he  were 
of  that  temper,  on  his  travels  in  the  South  Americas. 

A  very  curious  thing  it  was  to  watch  that  girl  go 
in  and  out  among  the  scoundrelly  patrons  of  the 
Skull  and  Spectacles,  listening  to  their  devil's  chat- 
ter in  all  the  lingoes  of  earth,  and  yet  in  a  kind  of 
fashion  keeping  them  at  a  distance.  She  would 
bandy  jokes  with  them  of  the  coarsest  kind,  and 
yet  there  was  not  a  man  of  all  the  following  who 
would  dare  to  lay  a  rude  hand  on  her  or  even  to 
force  a  kiss  from  her  against  her  will.  Every  man 
who  clinked  his  can  at  that  hostelry  knew  well 
enough  that  her  father,  when  he  was  ashore,  or  her 
uncle,  when  the  other  was  afloat,  would  think 
nothing  of  knifing  any  man  who  insulted  her. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  my  association  with  the 
Skull  and  Spectacles  greatly  increased  in  me  my 
longing  for  the  adventurous  life.  The  men  who 
frequented  the  inn  had  one  and  all  the  most  marvel- 
lous tales  to  tell.  Their  tales  were  not  always  com- 
mendable ;  they  were  tales  of  pirates,  of  buccaneers, 
of  fortunes  made  in  evil  wise  and  spent  in  evil 
fashion.  But  it  was  not  so  much  the  particulars 
as  the  generalities  of  their  talk  that  delighted  me.  I 

27 


MARJORIE 

loved  to  hear  of  islands  where  the  cocoa  trees  grew, 
and  where  parrots  of  every  hue  under  heaven 
squealed  and  screamed  in  the  tropic  heat;  where 
girls  as  graceful  as  goddesses  and  as  yellow  as 
guineas  wore  robes  of  flaming  feathers  and  sang 
lullabies  in  soft,  impossible  tongues;  lands  of  coral 
and  ivory  and  all  the  glories  of  the  earth,  where  life 
was  full  of  golden  possibilities  and  a  world  away 
from  the  drab  respectability  of  a  mercer's  life  in 
grey  Sendennis. 

I  grew  hungrier  and  thirstier  for  travel  day  after 
day.  I  had  heard  of  seamen  in  a  shipwrecked  craft 
suffering  agonies  of  thirst  and  being  taunted  by  the 
fields  of  water  all  about  them,  to  drink  of  which  was 
madness  and  death.  I  felt  somewhat  as  if  I  were 
in  like  case,  for  there  I  lived  always  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, always  in  the  companionship  of  the  sea 
and  of  seafaring  folk,  and  yet  I  was  doomed  to 
dwell  at  home  and  dance  attendance  upon  the  tink- 
ling of  the  shop  bell.  But  my  word  was  my  word 
all  the  same,  and  my  love  for  my  mother,  I  am  glad 
to  think,  was  greater  after  all  than  my  longing  to 
see  far  lands. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A    MAID     CALLED     BARBARA 

I  SUPPOSE  the  Skull  and  Spectacles  was  not  quite 
the  best  place  in  the  world  for  a  lad  of  my  age,  and 
perhaps  for  some  lads  it  might  have  been  fruitful 
of  evil.  But  I  found  then,  and  have  found  all 
through  my  life,  an  infinite  deal  of  entertainment  in 
studying  the  ways  and  humours  of  all  kinds  of  fel- 
lowships, without  of  necessity  accommodating  my- 
self to  the  morals  or  the  manners  of  the  company. 
I  have  been  very  happy  with  gipsies  on  a  common, 
though  I  never  poisoned  a  pig  or  coped  a  nag.  I 
have  mixed  much  with  sailors  of  all  kinds,  than 
whom  no  better  fellows — the  best  of  them,  and  that 
is  the  greater  part — exist  on  earth,  and  no  worse  the 
worse ;  and  yet  I  think  I  have  not  been  stained  with 
all  the  soils  of  the  sea.  I  have  been  with  pirates, 
and  thieves,  and  soldiers  of  fortune,  and  gentlemen 
of  blood,  and  highway  robbers;  and  once  I  supped 
with  a  hangman — off  boiled  rabbit  and  tripe,  an 
excellent  alliance  in  a  dish — and  all  this  without 

29 


MARJORIE 

being  myself  either  pirate,  highwayman,  or.  yet 
hangman.  It  is  not  always  a  man's  company,  but 
mostly  a  man's  mind,  that  makes  him  what  he  is 
or  is  not.  If  a  man  is  going  to  be  a  pitiful  fellow 
and  sorry  knave,  I  am  afraid  you  will  not  save  him 
by  the  companionship  of  a  synod  of  bishops;  nor 
will  you  spoil  a  fine  fellow  if  he  occasionally  rubs 
shoulders  with  rogues  and  vagabonds. 

The  girl  at  the  Skull  and  Spectacles  was  kind  to 
me,  partly,  perhaps,  because  I  differed  somewhat 
from  the  ordinary  ruck  of  customers  of  the  Skull 
and  Spectacles.  Had  it  been  known  that  that  crazy, 
villainous  old  alehouse  contained  such  a  pearl,  1 
make  no  doubt  that  the  favour  of  the  place  would 
have  gone  up,  and  its  customers  improved  in  out- 
ward seeming,  if  not  in  inward  merits  or  morals.. 
The  gallants  of  the  town — for  we  had  our  gallants 
even  in  that  tranquil  seaport — would  have  been  as- 
sailed by  a  thirst  that  naught  save  Nantz  and 
schnapps  and  strong  ale  of  the  Skull  and  Spectacles 
could  assuage,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  Chisholm 
Hunt  would  have  discovered  that  the  only  way  after 
a  run  with  the  harriers  was  through  the  vilest  part 
of  the  town  and  among  the  oozy  timbers  of  the 
wharves  which  formed  the  kingdom  of  the  Skull 
and  Spectacles. 

30 


•SHE  HAD  ALWAYS  A  PLEASANT  SMILE  FOR  ME  WHEN  I  CAME. 


A   MAID    CALLED   BARBARA 

But  few  of  the  townspeople  knew  of  the  Skull 
and  Spectacles.  It  never  thought  to  stretch  its 
custom  into  the  higher  walks  of  life.  It  throve  on 
its  own  clients,  its  high-booted,  thick-bearded, 
shaggy-coated  seamen,  whose  dealings  with  the  sea 
were  more  in  the  way  of  smuggling,  buccaneering, 
scuttling,  and  marooning  than  in  honest  merchan- 
dise or  the  service  of  the  King.  These  sea-wolves 
liked  the  place  famously,  and  would  have  grievously 
resented  the  intrusion  of  the  laced  waistcoats  of 
the  provincial  dandies  or  the  scarlet  jackets  of  the 
Chisholm  Hunt.  So  the  Skull  and  Spectacles  went 
its  own  way,  and  a  very  queer  way,  too,  unheeded 
and  unheeding. 

How  the  girl  and  I  got  to  be  so  friendly  I  scarcely 
know.  It  is  like  enough  that  I  thought  we  were 
more  friendly  than  we  really  were,  and  that  the 
girl  took  my  boyish  homage  with  more  indifference 
than  I  guessed  for.  She  had  always  a  pleasant  smile 
for  me  when  I  came,  and  she  was  always  ready  to 
pass  a  pleasant  word  or  two  with  me,  even  on  the 
days  when  the  business  in  the  place  was  at  its  heavi- 
est, and  when  the  room  was  choking  fit  to  burst  with 
the  shag-haired  sea-fellows. 

But  there  were  times,  too,  better  times  for  me,  or 
worse,  it  may  be,  when  the  Skull  and  Spectacles  was 


MARJORIE 

almost  deserted;  when  all  its  wonted  customers 
were  away  smuggling,  or  buccaneering,  or  cutting 
throats,  or  crimping,  or  following  whatever  was 
their  special  occupation  in  life. 

In  such  lonely  times  the  girl  was  willing  enough 
to  spend  half  an  hour  or  more  in  speech  with  me. 
Of  course,  I  fell  in  love  with  her,  like  the  donkey 
that  I  was,  and  worshipped  the  rotting  boards  of 
the  Skull  and  Spectacles  because  she  was  pleased  to 
walk  upon  them.  Her  speech  was  all  of  strange 
lands,  and  it  fed  my  frenzy  as  dry  wood  feeds  a  fire. 
Her  people  were  all  sea-people,  her  talk  was  all  sea- 
talk,  her  words  were  all  sea-words.  It  was  a  strange 
rapture  to  me  to  sit  and  listen  while  she  spoke  of  the 
things  that  were  dearest  to  my  heart  and  to  watch 
her  while  she  spoke.  Then  I  used  to  feel  a  wild, 
foolish  longing,  which  I  had  never  the  courage  to 
carry  out,  to  tell  her  how  beautiful  she  was — as  if 
she  needed  to  be  told  that  by  me ! — and  how  madly 
I  loved  her.  All  of  which  I  very  profoundly 
thought  and  believed,  but  all  of  which — for  I  was 
a  shy  lad  with  womenkind — I  kept  very  devoutly 
to  myself. 

I  wonder  if  the  girl  had  any  idea  of  my  devotion. 
I  thought  she  had;  I  felt  sure  that  my  love  must 
be  as  patent  to  her  as  it  was  to  myself,  and  that  she 


A   MAID    CALLED   BARBARA 

must  needs  prize  it  a  little.  I  believe,  indeed,  that 
I  never  talked  to  her  very  much  during  those  happy 
times  when  she  would  come  out  on  to  the  creaking 
terrace  and  speak  to  me  of  the  things  which  she 
never  seemed  to  weary  of — the  sea,  and  ships,  and 
seamen.  As  for  me,  who  would  not  have  wearied 
of  any  theme  that  gave  her  pleasure,  had  it  even 
been  books  and  lessons,  I  was  overjoyed  that  my  sea 
longings  could  help  me  on  with  her. 

Then  her  black  eyes  would  follow  the  river's 
course  to  where  the  estuary  widened  to  the  sea, 
and  search  the  horizon  and  point  out  to  me  the  sails 
that  starred  it  here  and  there,  and  sometimes  say 
with  a  laugh :  'Perhaps  one  of  those  is  my  ship.' 

But  when  I  asked  her  what  was  her  ship  she 
would  smile  and  shake  her  head  and  say  nothing; 
and  once,  when  I  asked  her  if  it  was  her  father's 
ship,  she  laughed  loudly  and  said  yes,  it  was  her 
father's  ship  she  longed  for. 

So  late  spring  slipped  into  early  summer;  and, 
as  the  year  grew  kinder,  so  every  day  my  boy's  heart 
grew  hotter  with  its  first  foolish  passion.  Some- 
where about  the  middle  of  June,  as  I  knew,  her 
birthday  was;  and  in  view  of  that  saint's  day  of 
my  calendar  I  had  hoarded  my  poor  pocket  money 
to  buy  her  a  little  toy  from  the  jeweller  in  the  Main 

33 


MARJORIE 

Street,  whose  show  seemed  to  me  more  opulent  than 
the  treasures  of  Aladdin. 

The  day  found  me  all  of  a  tremble.  I  had  sat  up 
half  the  night  looking  at  my  token  and  kissing  it 
a  thousand  times.  It  was  a  little  locket  that  was 
fashioned  like  a  heart,  and  on  the  one  side  her  name 
was  engraved,  and  on  the  other  mine,  for  I  thought 
by  this  to  show  what  I  dared  not  say. 

It  was  early  when  I  stole  from  our  shop,  little 
less  than  ten,  and  I  calculated  that  I  would  look  in 
at  Mr.  Davies's  on  my  way  back  and  make  some 
excuse  for  my  truancy,  and  so  be  back  in  time  for 
noonday  dinner;  and  I  knew  if  I  were  a  little  late 
my  mother  would  forgive  me.  Lord,  how  I  ran 
along  the  quays !  I  seemed  to  fly,  and  yet  the  road 
seemed  endless.  As  I  ran  I  noted  that  some  new 
ships  had  entered  the  night  before,  and  men  on  the 
wharves  were  busy  unloading,  and  sailors  were 
lounging  round  with  that  foreign  air  which  Jack  al- 
ways has  after  a  cruise. 

When  I  got  to  the  Skull  and  Spectacles  the  land- 
lord was  standing  before  his  door  smoking.  As 
he  saw  me  he  nodded,  and  when  I  asked  for  Bar- 
bara, saying  I  had  a  message  for  her,  he  told  me  she 
was  upstairs,  and  added  something  which  I  did  not 
stay  to  hear. 

34 


A   MAID    CALLED   BARBARA 

I  bounded  up  the  crazy  stairs  with  a  beating 
heart.  I  was  all  on  fire  with  excitement  at  the 
thought  of  offering  her  a  gift;  my  blood  seemed 
to  be  turned  to  quicksilver,  and  to  race  through  its 
channels  with  a  feverish  swiftness. 

There  was  a  gallery  at  the  head  of  the  stairs,  a 
gallery  on  to  which  looked  the  doors  of  the  guest- 
rooms of  the  inn — rooms  where  bearded  men  from 
over  sea  sometimes  passed  a  night  when  they  were 
uncertain  where  to  journey  next,  or  when  they  were 
too  much  pleased  with  the  liquor  of  the  Skull  and 
Spectacles  to  leave  it  before  morning. 

As  I  swung  round  the  stairs  into  the  gallery  I 
thought  for  a  moment  that  it  was  empty,  as  it  lay 
before  me  dark  and  uninviting.  Then  from  the  far 
end  came  the  sound  of  voices,  laughter,  and  laugh- 
ing expostulation — this  last  in  a  woman's  voice  that 
I  knew  too  well.  While  I  stood  staring,  not  under- 
standing, and  bewildered  by  a  sudden  and  wholly 
meaningless  alarm,  one  of  the  doors  at  the  end  of 
the  gallery  that  was  just  ajar  swung  open,  and  Bar- 
bara slipped  from  it,  laughing,  breathless,  with 
tumbled  hair  and  crimson  cheeks.  A  man  sprang 
after  her  and  caught  her,  unreluctant,  in  his  arms. 

I  see  the  scene  now  as  vividly  as  I  saw  it  then 
with  my  despairing  boyish  eyes.  The  great  strong 

35 


MARJORIE 

man  had  his  arms  close  about  her;  her  dark  hair 
was  all  about  her  face  and  over  her  shoulders  as  she 
flung  her  head  back  to  meet  the  great  red  mouth 
that  was  seeking  hers.  I  have  seen  since  pictures  of 
satyrs  embracing  nymphs,  and  whenever  I  see  them 
I  cannot  stay  a  shudder  running  through  me  as  I 
think  of  that  dim,  creaking  gallery  and  the  di- 
shevelled girl  and  the  strong  man  and  the  tearful, 
trembling  lad  who  beheld  their  passion. 

I  suppose  a  painter  would  have  admired  the 
group  they  made ;  she  with  her  body  eagerly  flung 
forward  and  her  beautiful  face  all  on  fire  with  warm 
animal  emotion;  he,  big  and  amber-bearded,  his 
great  mouth  crushed  against  hers  as  if  he  wanted  to 
absorb  her  life,  and  his  arms  about  her  pliant  body, 
at  once  yielding  and  resisting  in  its  reckless  disarray. 
But  I  was  not  a  painter — only  a  longshore  mooncalf 
— and  my  eyes  swam  and  my  tongue  swelled  till 
I  thought  it  would  stick  between  my  teeth  as  those  of 
poor  rogues  do  on  the  gallows,  and  I  was  chickenish 
enough  to  wish  to  blubber.  And  while  I  stood 
there,  stockish  and  stupid,  the  pair  became  aware  of 
me.  I  do  not  think  I  made  any  noise,  but  their  eyes 
dropped  from  each  other  and  turned  on  me,  and  the 
man  scowled  a  little,  without  loosening  his  hold, 
but  the  woman,  no  whit  troubled,  flung  one  arm 

36 


A   MAID    CALLED   BARBARA 

away  from  her  lover's  neck  and  held  out  her  hand 
to  me,  with  a  laugh,  and  greeted  me  merrily. 

'Why,  it's  little  Raphael !'  she  said,  laughing  the 
words  into  the  yellow  beard  of  the  sea-thief  who 
clipped  her,  and  again  she  nodded  at  me,  in  no  ways 
discomposed  by  the  strangeness  of  her  position. 
But  I,  poor  fool,  could  not  bear  it,  and  I  turned 
and  ran  down  the  stairs  as  if  the  Devil  himself  were 
after  me. 


37 


LANCELOT    LEAVES 

THERE  was  a  place  upon  the  downs  to  which  it  was 
often  my  special  delight  to  betake  me — a  kind  of 
hollow  dip  between  two  humps  of  hills,  where  a  lad 
might  lie  warm  in  the  windiest  weather  and  look 
straight  out  upon  the  sea,  shining  with  calm  or  shag- 
gy with  storm,  and  feel  quite  as  if  he  were  alone  in 
the  world.  To  this  place  I  now  sped  half  uncon- 
sciously, my  face,  I  make  no  doubt,  scarlet  with  pas- 
sion and  shame,  and  my  eyes  well-nigh  blinded  with 
sudden  up-springing  of  tears.  How  I  got  to  my  hol- 
low I  do  not  know,  but  I  ran  and  ran  and  ran,  with 
my  blood  tingling,  heedless  of  all  the  world,  until 
at  last  I  found  myself  tumbling  down  over  its  ridged 
wall  or  rampart  of  hummocks  and  dropping,  with 
a  choking  moan,  flat  on  my  face  in  an  agony  of 
despair. 

There  I  lay  in  the  long  grasses,  sobbing  as  if  my 
heart  would  break.  Indeed,  I  thought  that  it  was 
breaking;  that  life  was  over  for  me;  that  sunrise 

38 


LANCELOT  LEAVES 

and  sunset  and  the  glory  of  the  stars  had  no  further 
part  to  play  for  me;  and  that  all  that  was  left  for 
me  was  to  die,  and  be  put  into  a  corner  somewhere 
and  speedily  forgotten. 

Troops  of  bitter  thoughts  came  surging  up  over 
my  brain.  My  mood  of  mind  and  state  of  body 
were  alike  incomprehensible  and  terrible  to  me.  It 
was  a  very  real  agony,  that  fierce  awakening  to  the 
realities  of  life,  to  love  and  passion,  and  blinding 
jealousy  and  despair,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  tor- 
ments that  walk  in  the  train  of  a  boy's  first  love.  I 
wallowed  there  a  long  time,  making  a  great  mark  in 
the  soft  grasses,  as  if  I  sought  to  measure  myself  for 
an  untimely  grave.  The  strong  afternoon  sun  drove 
on  his  way  westward,  and  still  I  lay  there,  writhing 
and  whimpering,  and  wondering,  perhaps,  a  little 
inwardly  that  the  sky  did  not  fall  in  and  crush  me 
and  the  wicked  world  altogether. 

A  boy's  mind  is  a  turbulent  place  enough,  and 
stuffed  pretty  often  with  a  legion  of  wicked 
thoughts,  which  take  possession  of  his  fancy  long 
before  evil  words  and  evil  deeds  have  struck  up 
their  alliance.  Yet  even  the  most  foul-mouthed  boy 
thinks,  I  believe,  nobly,  or  with  a  kind  of  nobility, 
of  his  first  love,  and  a  clean-hearted  lad  offers  her  a 
kind  of  bewildering  worship.  I  was  a  clean-hearted 

39 


MARJORIE 

lad,  and  I  had  worshipped  Barbara ;  and  now  my 
worship  was  over  and  done  with,  and  I  made  sure 
that  my  heart  was  broken. 

I  do  not  know  how  long  I  lay  there,  with  whirling 
brain  and  bursting  heart,  but  presently  I  felt  the 
touch  of  a  hand  on  my  shoulder.  I  had  heard  no 
one  coming,  and  under  ordinary  conditions  I  might 
have  been  a  thought  startled  by  the  unexpected  com- 
panionship; but  just  now  I  was  too  wretched  for 
any  other  emotion,  and  I  merely  lay  passive  and  in- 
different. 

The  hand  declined  with  a  firmer  pressure  and 
gently  shook  my  shoulder,  and  then  a  voice — 
Lancelot  Amber's  voice — called  softly  to  me  ask- 
ing me  what  I  was  doing  there  and  what  ailed  me. 
I  always  loved  Lancelot's  voice :  it  seemed  to  vary 
as  swiftly  as  wind  over  water  with  every  thought, 
and  to  run  along  all  the  chords  of  speech  with  the 
perfection  of  music  in  a  dream.  Whenever  I  read 
that  saying  of  St.  Paul's  about  the  tongue  of  men 
and  of  angels  I  am  reminded  of  Lancelot's  voice, 
and  I  feel  convinced  that  of  such  is  the  language 
of  the  courts  of  heaven,  and  that  if  St.  Paul  had 
talked  like  Lancelot  he  would  have  won  the  most 
sceptical.  The  sound  of  his  voice  soothed  me  then, 
as  far  as  it  was  possible  for  anything  to  soothe  me, 

40 


LANCELOT   LEAVES 

and  I  shifted  slightly  to  one  side  and  looked  up  at 
him  furtively  and  crossly,  my  poor  face  all  blub- 
bered with  tears  and  smeared  with  mire  where  I  had 
lain  grovelling. 

Bit  by  bit  I  told  him  my  story.  I  was  in  the 
temper  for  a  confession,  and  ready  to  tell  my  tale 
to  anyone  with  wit  enough  to  coax  it  from  me.  Per- 
haps it  did  not  seem  so  much  of  a  tale  in  the  telling, 
though  to  my  mind  it  was  then  as  terrible  as  the  end 
of  the  world  itself  and  the  unloosening  of  the  great 
deep. 

So  I  hunched  myself  up  on  my  left  elbow,  and, 
staring  drearily  at  Lancelot  through  my  tears,  I 
whimpered  out  my  sorrows;  and  he  listened  with  a 
smileless  face. 

When  I  had  done,  and  my  quavering  broke  off 
with  a  sob,  he  was  silent  for  a  while,  looking  straight 
before  him  beyond  the  meadow  edges  into  the  yel- 
lowing sky.  Then  he  turned  and  looked  at  me  with 
a  brotherly  pity  that  was  soothing  to  my  troubled 
senses,  and  he  spoke  to  me  with  a  softness  of  voice 
that  seemed  in  tune  with  the  dying  day  and  my 
drooping  spirits. 

'After  all,'  he  said,  'you  have  not  lost  much, 
Raphael.  She  is  but  a  light  o'  love,  and  you  were 
built  for  a  better  mate.' 


MARJORIE 

Truly,  though  I  scarcely  noted  it  at  the  time,  it 
was  gracious  and  quick-witted  of  him  to  assume  that 
I  was  of  a  lover's  age  with  the  great  lass  of  the  Skull 
and  Spectacles,  and  unconsciously  it  tickled  my  torn 
vanity.  But  part  of  his  speech  angered  me,  and  I 
took  fire  like  tinder. 

Swinging  myself  round  on  my  elbow,  I  glanced 
savagely  into  Lancelot's  face  of  compassion. 

'You  lie!'  I  growled,  'you  lie!  She  is  a  queen 
among  women,  and  there  is  no  man  in  all  the  world 
worthy  of  her!' 

Then — for  I  saw  him  smile  a  little — I  struck  out 
at  him.  I  am  thankful  to  think  that  I  was  too  wild 
and  weary  to  strike  either  true  or  hard,  and  my  fool' 
ish  hand  just  grazed  his  cheek  and  touched  his 
shoulder  as  he  stooped;  and  then,  turning  away 
again,  I  fell  into  a  fresh  storm  of  sobbing.  Lancelot 
remained  by  my  side,  gently  indifferent  to  my  fury, 
gently  tender  with  my  sorrow.  After  a  while  he 
turned  me  round  reluctant,  and  looked  very  gravely 
into  my  tear-stained  face.  We  were  but  a  brace  of 
lads,  each  on  the  edge  of  life,  and  as  I  look  back  on 
that  page  of  my  history  I  cannot  help  but  shudder 
at  the  contrast  between  us,  I  bellowing  like  a  gaby  at 
the  ache  of  my  first  calf-love — and  yet  indeed  I  was 
hurt,  and  hardly — and  he  so  sweet  and  restrained 

42 


LANCELOT  LEAVES 

and  sane,  weighing  the  world  so  wisely  in  his  young 
hands. 

'I  am  very  sorry  for  you,  Raphael,'  he  said,  and 
his  voice  was  so  clear  and  strong  that  for  the  mo- 
ment it  comforted  me  as  a  cordial  will  comfort  a 
sick  man,  against  my  will.  'I  am  very  sorry  for 
you,  and  because  of  my  sorrow  for  you  and  because 
of  my  love  for  you  I  will  give  you  a  gift  that  I 
would  part  with  to  no  other  in  the  world.  Women 
are  not  all  alike,  and  therefore  I  will  give  you  a 
talisman  to  help  you  to  think  well  of  women.' 

I  suppose  it  would  have  diverted  an  elder  to  hear 
him,  so  slim  and  simple,  discoursing  so  sweetly  and 
reasonably  on  a  theme  on  which  few  of  us  at  the  fag 
end  of  our  days  are  ever  able  to  utter  one  sensible 
syllable,  but  Lancelot  always  seemed  to  me  wise 
beyond  his  time,  so  I  listened,  although  dully 
enough  and  I  fear  sullenly.  He  slipped  his  hand 
into  his  breast  and  drew  forth  a  small  object  which 
he  held  shut  in  his  hand  while  he  again  discoursed 
to  me. 

'What  I  am  going  to  give  you,  Raphael,  is  the 
little  picture  of  a  lass  who  is  in  my  eyes  a  thing  of 
Heaven's  best  making.  For  loyalty,  honour,  cour- 
age, truth,  faith,  she  is  an  unmatchable  maid.  I 

43 


MARJORIE 

have  known  her  all  the  days  of  my  life  and  never 
found  a  flaw  in  her.' 

Then  he  opened  his  hand  and  I  saw  that  it  held  a 
picture,  an  oval  miniature  in  a  fine  gold  frame.  My 
mind  was  all  on  fire  for  the  black  eyes  of  piratical 
Barbara  and  my  blood  was  tingling  to  a  gipsy  tune, 
but  as  I  stared  at  the  image  in  my  comrade's  palm 
my  mind  was  arrested  and  my  fancy  for  the  instant 
fixed.  For  it  showed  the  face  of  a  girl,  a  child  of 
Lancelot's  age  or  a  little  under,  and  through  my 
tears  I  could  perceive  the  sweetness  of  the  counte- 
nance and  its  likeness  to  my  friend  in  the  fair  hair 
and  the  fine  eyes. 

'This  is  my  sister,  this  is  Marjorie,'  Lancelot  said 
slowly.  'She  has  the  truest  soul,  the  noblest  heart 
in  all  the  world.  I  think  it  will  help  you  to  have  it 
and  to  look  on  it  from  time  to  time,  as  it  always 
helps  me  when  I  am  away  from  her.' 

As  he  spoke  he  pushed  the  picture  gently  into 
my  unresisting  fingers  and  closed  them  over  it. 
'My  sister  Marjorie  is  a  wonderful  girl,'  he  said, 
with  a  bright  smile.  He  was  silent  for  a  little  while 
as  if  musing  upon  her  and  then  his  tender  thoughts 
returned  to  me. 

'Come  away,  Raphael,'  he  said.  'Let  us  be 
going  home.  The  hour  is  late,  and  your  mother 

44 


LANCELOT   LEAVES 

may  be  anxious;  and  you  have  her  still,  whatever 
else  you  may  have  lost.' 

The  grace  of  his  voice  conquered  me.  I  rose  at 
the  word,  staggering  a  little  as  I  gained  my  feet,  for 
passion  and  grief  had  torn  me  like  devils,  and  I  was 
faint  and  bewildered.  He  slipped  his  arm  into 
mine  and  led  me  away,  supporting  me  as  carefully 
as  if  I  were  a  woman  whom  his  solicitude  was  aid- 
ing. We  exchanged  no  word  together  as  we  went 
along  the  downs  and  through  the  fields.  As  we 
came  to  the  town,  however,  he  paused  by  the  last 
stile  and  spoke  to  me. 

'Dear  heart !'  he  said,  'but  I  am  sorry  for  all  this 
— more  sorry  than  I  can  say ;  for  I  am  going  away 
to-morrow.' 

The  words  shook  me  from  myself  and  my 
apathy.  I  gazed  in  wonder  and  alarm  into  his  face. 

'I  am  going  away,'  he  said,  'and  that's  how  I 
chanced  to  find  you.  For  I  waited  in  vain  for  you 
at  Mr.  Davies's,  and  sought  you  at  your  home  and 
found  you  missing;  and  then  I  thought  of  this  old 
burrow  of  yours,  and  here,  as  good  luck  would  have 
it,  I  found  you/ 

I  could  only  gasp  out  'Going  away?'  in  a  great 
amazement. 

'I  must  go  away,'  he  said.  'My  uncle  that  was  at 
45 


MARJORIE 

sea  is  in  London,  with  Marjorie,  and  has  sent  for 
me  He  needs  me,  and  I  am  so  much  beholden  to 
him  that  I  should  have  to  go,  even  if  I  were  not 
bound  to  him  by  blood  and  duty,  and  indeed  I  long 
to  see  my  Marjorie.' 

'How  long  will  you  be  away?'  I  gasped. 

'I  do  not  know,'  he  answered;  'but  it  is  only  a 
little  world  after  all,  and  we  shall  meet  again  some 
time,  and  soon,  be  sure  of  that.  If  not,  why,  then 
this  parting  was  well  made.' 

This  last  was  a  quotation  from  one  of  his  poets 
and  play-makers,  as  I  found  afterwards,  for  the 
words  stuck  in  my  memory,  and  I  happened  on  them 
later  in  a  printed  book.  But  indeed  I  did  not  think 
the  parting  was  well  made  at  all,  and  I  shook  my 
head  dismally,  for  I  knew  he  only  said  so  to  cheer 
me. 

He  laughed  and  tossed  his  brown  locks.  'Lon- 
don is  not  the  end  of  the  world,'  he  said.  'I  hope 
to  go  further  afield  than  that  before  I  die.  But 
near  or  far,  summer  or  winter,  town  or  country,  we 
are  friends  for  ever.  No  distance  can  divide,  no 
time  untie  our  friendship.' 

Here  he  wrung  me  by  the  hand,  and  I,  with  this 
new  sorrow  on  top  of  the  old — that  was  new  but 
two  hours  ago — could  only  sob  and  say :  *Q  Lance- 

46 


LANCELOT   LEAVES 

lot!'  and  tremble.  I  suppose  I  looked  giddy,  as  if 
I  were  about  to  faint,  for  he  caught  me  in  his  strong 
arms  and  propped  me  up  a  minute. 

'Come,  come!'  he  said;  'take  heart.  To-day  is 
not  to-morrow  yet.  I  will  go  in  with  you  to  your 
mother's  and  spend  an  hour  with  you  before  I  say 
good-bye.' 

Then  he  gently  led  me  by  the  arm,  and  we  went 
into  the  town  and  along  the  evening  streets  till  we 
came  to  the  little  shop,  and  there  at  the  door  we 
found  my  mother,  looking  anxious. 

Lancelot  made  my  excuses,  saying  that  he  had 
kept  me,  and  telling  my  mother  of  his  speedy  de- 
parture. My  mother,  who  loved  Lancelot,  was  al- 
most as  grieved  as  I.  But  he,  in  his  bright  way, 
cheered  us ;  he  came  in,  and  would  take  supper  with 
us;  and  though  it  was  a  doleful  meal,  he  went  on 
as  if  it  were  a  merry  one,  talking  and  laughing,  and 
telling  us  tales  of  the  great  city  and  its  wonders,  and 
all  he  hoped  to  see  and  do  there. 

And  so  a  sad  hour  went  by,  and  then  he  rose  and 
said  he  must  go  and  give  a  hand  to  the  packing  of 
his  belongings,  for  he  was  leaving  by  the  early  coach 
and  would  not  have  a  moment  in  the  morning.  And 
then  he  kissed  my  mother  and  kissed  me,  and  went 
away  and  left  us  both  crying.  There  were  tears  in 

47 


MARJORIE 

his  own  eyes  as  he  stepped  out  into  the  summer  twi- 
light, but  he  turned  to  look  back  at  us,  and  waved 
his  hat  and  called  out  good-bye  with  a  firm  voice. 

A  sullen  blackness  settled  down  upon  me  after 
Lancelot's  departure.  I  was  minded  to  rise  early  in 
the  morning  to  see  him  off  by  the  coach,  but  I  was  so 
tired  with  crying  and  complaining  that  when  I  fell 
asleep  I  slept  like  a  log,  and  did  not  wake  until  the 
morning  sun  was  high  and  the  coach  had  been  long 
gone.  Well,  it  was  all  the  better,  I  told  myself 
savagely.  He  had  gone  out  of  my  life  for  good, 
and  I  should  see  no  more  of  him.  I  had  lost  in  the 
same  hour  my  love  and  my  friend.  I  would  make 
up  my  mind  to  be  lonely  and  pay  no  heed.  As  for 
the  picture  he  gave  me,  what  good  to  me  was  the 
face  of  that  fair  girl?  Lancelot's  sister  Marjorie 
was  a  gentlewoman,  born  and  bred,  as  my  lost 
Lancelot  was  a  gentleman.  What  could  she  or  he 
really  have  to  do  with  the  mercerman  in  the  dull 
little  Sussex  town?  Marjorie  had  a  beautiful  face, 
if  the  limner  did  not  lie — and  indeed  he  did  not — 
and  I  could  well  believe  that  as  lovely  a  soul  as 
Lancelot  lauded  shone  through  those  candid  eyes. 
But  again,  what  was  it  to  me  and  my  yardwand? 
So  I  hid  the  picture  away  in  a  little  sweet-scented 
cedarwood  box  that  I  had,  and  resolved  to  forget 

48 


LANCELOT  LEAVES 

Lancelot  and  Lancelot's  sister,  and  everything  else 
in  the  world  except  my  blighted  youth  and  my 
blighted  hopes. 

I  reasoned  as  a  boy  reasons  who  thinks  that  the 
world  has  come  to  an  end  for  him  after  his  first 
check,  and  who  has  no  knowledge  as  yet  of  the  medi- 
cine of  time.  My  mother  had  but  a  vexatious  life 
of  it  with  me,  for  I  was  silent  and  melancholy;  and 
though  I  never,  indeed,  offended  her  by  uncivil 
word  or  deed,  yet  the  sight  of  my  dreary  visage 
must  have  been  a  sore  trial  to  her,  and  the  glum  de- 
spondency with  which  I  accepted  all  her  efforts  to 
cheer  me  from  my  humours  must  have  wrung  her 
heart. 

Poor  dear !  She  thought,  I  believe,  that  it  was 
only  grief  for  Lancelot  which  touched  me  so;  and 
once,  after  some  days  of  my  ill-temper,  she  asked 
me  if  I  would  like  to  run  up  to  London  and  see  my 
friend.  But  I  shook  my  head.  I  had  made  up  my 
mind  to  have  done  with  everything ;  to  stay  on  there 
to  the  end,  morosely  resigned  to  my  lot. 

To  make  myself  more  sure  in  isolation  I  even 
took  the  letter  which  came  from  Lancelot  but  a  few 
days  after  his  departure,  in  which  he  told  me  where 
his  uncle's  house  was,  and  bade  me  write  to  him 
there,  and  burnt  it  in  the  flame  of  a  candle.  As  I 

49 


MARJORIE 

tossed  the  charred  paper  out  into  the  street  I  thought 
to  myself  that  now  indeed  I  was  alone  and  free  to 
be  miserable  in  my  own  way.  And  I  was  miserable, 
and  made  my  poor  mother  miserable;  and  acted 
like  the  selfish  dog  I  was,  like  the  selfish  dog  that 
every  lad  is  under  the  venom  of  a  first  love-pang. 

I  went  no  more  to  the  Skull  and  Spectacles ;  I  saw 
my  beautiful  tyrant  no  more.  One  day  I  drifted 
along  in  the  familiar  direction,  came  to  the  point 
where  I  could  see  the  evil-favoured  inn  standing 
alone  in  the  dreary  waste,  hesitated  for  a  moment, 
and  then,  as  the  image  of  the  girl  in  the  sailor's 
arms  surged  up  before  my  mind,  I  turned  and  ran 
back  as  hard  as  I  could  into  the  town. 

But  if  I  went  that  way  no  more,  I  drifted  about 
in  other  ways  helplessly  and  foolishly  enough. 

I  would  spend  hours  upon  hours  mooning  among 
the  downs  and  on  the  cliffs,  and  sometimes  I  would 
sit  on  some  bulkhead  by  the  quays  and  look  at  the 
big  ships,  and  wish  myself  on  board  one  of  them 
and  sailing  into  the  sunset.  Love  for  my  mother 
kept  me  from  going  to  the  devil,  but  my  love  for 
her  was  not  strong  enough  to  put  a  brave  face  upon 
my  trouble,  and  I  was  not  man  enough  to  do  my 
best  to  make  her  life  light  for  her. 

But  no  trouble  of  this  kind  does  endure  for  ever, 
So 


LANCELOT  LEAVES 

and  by  the  end  of  a  year  the  poison  had  in  a  great 
degree  spent  itself,  and  with  my  recovery  from  my 
love-ache  there  grew  up  in  my  mind  a  disdain  of  my 
behaviour.  As  I  saw  my  mother's  visage  peaked 
with  pity  I  grew  to  be  heartily  ashamed  of  myself, 
and  to  resolve  honestly  and  earnestly  to  make 
amends.  I  disliked  tending  shop  more  bitterly  than 
ever.  But  there  was  the  shop,  and  it  was  dear  to 
my  mother's  heart;  and  so  I  buckled  to,  if  not  with 
a  will,  at  least  with  the  semblance  of  a  will,  and 
did  my  best  to  become  as  good  a  mercer  as  another. 
Two  things,  however,  I  would  not  do.  I  would 
5iot  enter  into  correspondence  with  Lancelot,  and  I 
would  not  go  any  more  to  Master  Davies's  house. 
Lancelot  wrote  again  and  yet  again  to  me.  But  I 
served  the  second  letter  as  I  had  served  the  first, 
and  the  third  as  I  had  served  the  second.  I  did, 
indeed,  scrawl  some  few  lines  of  reply  to  this  last 
letter,  bidding  him  somewhat  bluntly  to  leave  me  in 
peace ;  that  my  bed  had  been  made  for  me,  and  that 
I  must  needs  lie  upon  it,  and  that  I  did  not  wish  to 
be  vexed  in  my  slumber.  It  was  a  rude  and  foolish 
letter,  I  make  no  doubt ;  but  I  wrote  it  with  a  decent 
purpose  enough,  for  I  was  desperately  afraid  that 
I  could  not  hold  to  my  resolutions  and  to  my  way  of 
life  if  I  kept  in  communication  with  Lancelot,  and 


MARJORIE 

was  haunted  by  the  thoughts  of  his  more  fortunate 
stars.  Lancelot  wrote  back  to  me  with  his  invari- 
able sweetness  and  gentleness,  saying  that  he  hoped 
time  would  make  me  amends;  and  after  that  I 
heard  no  more  from  him,  and  he  seemed  to  have 
passed  out  of  my  life  for  good  and  all. 

As  for  Mr.  Davies,  he  too  seemed  to  belong  to 
the  old  life  from  which  I  had  cut  myself  adrift,  and 
so  I  went  to  his  shop  no  more ;  and  as  he  was  a 
home-keeping  bookworm,  he  but  seldom  stirred 
abroad.  And  thus,  though  we  dwelt  in  the  same 
town,  I  may  fairly  say  that  I  never  saw  him  from 
month's  end  to  month's  end. 

The  days  slip  by  swiftly  in  an  unnoticeable  kind 
of  way  in  a  town  like  Sendennis.  It  was  but  a  slug- 
gish place,  for  all  its  sea-bustle,  in  the  days  that 
now  lie  far  behind  me.  Our  shop  lay  in  the  quietest 
part  of  the  town,  and  we  took  no  note  of  time.  Ours 
was  a  grey,  lonely  life.  We  had  friends,  of  course, 
whose  names  and  ways  I  have  long  since  forgotten , 
but  we  saw  little  of  them,  partly  because  my  mother 
learnt  after  a  while  that  I  hated  all  company,  and 
would  take  no  part  in  any  of  the  junketings  of  our 
neighbours. 

I  might  have  made  an  apt  mercer  in  time,  but 
I  do  not  know,  and  I  do  not  love  to  linger  over  the 

53 


LANCELOT   LEAVES 

two  years  I  spent  in  the  trial.  For  though  I  did  my 
duty  fairly  well,  both  by  my  mother  and  by  the 
shop,  and  though  my  love-ache  had  dulled  almost 
to  nothing,  my  passion  to  go  abroad  was  as  hot  as 
ever,  and  I  thought  it  a  shame  that  my  twenty  years 
had  no  better  business,  and  my  life  no  other  aim, 
than  to  wear  out  its  strength  behind  a  counter.  Let 
those  two  years  go  by. 

One  evening  I  was  sitting  with  my  mother  in  the 
little  parlour  behind  the  shop,  she  knitting,  I  think, 
or  sewing — I  am  not  sure  which — and  I  with  my 
legs  thrust  out  before  me  and  my  hands  in  my  pock- 
ets, outwardly  idling  and  inwardly  cursing  at  my 
destiny.  Every  now  and  then  my  mother  glanced 
at  me  over  the  edge  of  her  work  and  sighed;  but 
it  may  have  been,  and  I  hope  it  was,  because  she 
found  her  task  a  difficult  one. 

Suddenly  the  bell  at  the  front  door  tinkled.  In 
my  younger  days  I  used  to  fancy  that  every  ring  of 
that  same  cracked  bell  brought  some  message  from 
the  outer  world  for  me.  Well,  here  was  the  mes- 
sage at  last,  though  I  never  dreamt  of  it,  but  just  sat 
stupidly,  with  my  fingers  touching  my  pocket  seams. 


53 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   GENTLEMAN   IN   BLUE 

MY  mother  glanced  up  from  her  work  at  me.  I 
knew  that  her  look  asked  me  if  I  had  heard  the  bell, 
and  if  I  would  not  go  to  the  door  in  answer;  and, 
though  I  felt  lazy,  I  was  not  base  enough  to  ignore 
that  appeal.  So  I  lurched  up  from  my  chair  and 
swung  through  the  little  shop  and  flung  the  door 
wide  open,  a  thought  angrily,  for  I  had  been  deep  in 
my  brown  study  and  was  stupidly  irritated  at  being 
jarred  from  it. 

I  half  expected,  so  far  as  I  expected  anything, 
to  see  some  familiar  neighbour,  with  the  familiar 
demand  for  a  twist  of  tape  or  a  case  of  needles,  so 
that  I  confess  to  being  not  a  little  surprised  and 
even  startled  by  what  my  eyes  did  rest  upon.  The 
doorway  framed  a  wholesome  picture  of  a  middle- 
aged  comely  gentleman. 

I  see  the  stranger  now  in  my  mind's  eye  as  I  saw 
him  then  with  my  bodily  vision — a  stoutly  made, 
well  set-up  man  of  a  trifle  above  the  middle  height, 

54 


THE  GENTLEMAN  IN   BLUE 

in  a  full-skirted  blue  coat ;  a  gold-laced  hat  upon  his 
powder,  and  a  gold-headed  cane  in  his  hand.  The 
florid  face  was  friendly,  and  shrewd  too,  lined  all 
over  its  freshness  with  little  lines  of  experience  and 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  two  hon- 
est blue  eyes  shone  straight  at  me  from  beneath 
bold  black  eyebrows. 

It  was  certainly  a  most  unfamiliar  figure  in  the 
framework  of  our  shop  door,  and  I  stood  and  stared 
at  it,  somewhat  unmannerly,  for  a  space  of  several 
seconds.  After  a  while,  finding  that  I  still  barred 
his  way  and  said  nothing,  the  stranger  smiled  very 
good-humouredly;  and  as  he  smiled  I  saw  that  his 
teeth  were  large  and  white  and  sound. 

'Well,  young  sir,'  he  said  pleasantly,  'are  you 
Master  Raphael  Crowninshield?' 

I  told  him  that  was  my  name. 

'Then  I  should  like  to  exchange  a  word  or  two 
with  you,'  he  said ;  'can  we  be  private  within  ?' 

I  answered  him  that  there  was  no  one  inside  but 
my  mother,  and  I  begged  him  to  step  into  the  little 
parlour. 

The  stout  gentleman  nodded.  'Your  mother?' 
he  said.  'Very  good;  I  shall  be  delighted  to  have 
the  honour  of  making  madam's  acquaintance :  bring 
me  to  her.' 

55 


MARJORIE 

I  led  the  way  across  the  shop  and  up  the  two  low 
steps  into  the  little  parlour,  where  my  mother,  who 
had  heard  every  word  of  this  dialogue,  had  laid 
aside  her  sewing,  and  now  rose  as  the  stranger  ap- 
proached and  dropped  him  a  curtsey. 

'Be  seated,  madam,  I  beg,'  said  the  stranger.  'I 
have  a  word  or  two  to  say  to  your  son  hereby,  but 
first' — here  he  paused  and  addressed  himself  to  me 
— 'prithee,  lad,  step  to  the  door  a  moment  and  wait 
till  I  call  for  you.  Your  mother  and  I  have  our 
gossip  to  get  over.' 

There  was  something  so  commanding  in  the  kind- 
liness of  the  stranger's  manner  and  voice  that  I 
made  no  hesitation  about  obeying  him ;  so  I  prompt- 
ly rose  and  made  for  the  shop,  drawing  close  the 
door  of  the  parlour  behind  me. 

I  stood  awhile  at  the  outer  door,  looking  listlessly 
into  the  street,  and  wondering  what  the  blue  gentle- 
man could  have  to  say  to  my  mother  and  to  me. 
Even  now  I  can  recall  the  whole  scene  distinctly, 
the  windy  High  Street,  with  its  gleams  of  broken 
sunlight  on  the  drying  cobbles — for  it  had  rained  a 
little  about  noon,  and  the  black  clouds  were  only 
now  sailing  away  towards  the  west  and  leaving 
blue  and  white  sky  behind  them.  I  can  see  again  the 
signs  and  names  of  the  shops  opposite,  can  even 

56 


THE  GENTLEMAN  IN   BLUE 

recall  noting  a  girl  leaning  out  of  a  window  and  a 
birdcage  in  an  attic. 

When  the  door  of  the  parlour  behind  me  opened 
for  the  blue-coated  gentleman  I  noted  that  my 
mother  stood  with  a  pale  face  and  her  hands  folded. 
He  beckoned  me  to  him  and  clapped  his  hand  on  my 
shoulder,  and  though  he  laid  it  there  gentle  enough, 
I  felt  that  it  could  be  as  heavy  as  the  paw  of  a 
bear. 

'My  lad,'  he  said,  gazing  steadily  into  my  face 
with  his  china-blue  eyes,  'your  good  mother  and  I 
have  been  talking  over  some  plans  of  mine,  and  I 
think  I  have  induced  her  to  see  the  advantage  of  my 
proposals.  Am  I  right  or  am  I  wrong  in  assuming 
you  have  stowed  away  in  your  body  a  certain  long- 
ing for  the  wide  world  ?' 

I  suppose  my  eyes  brightened  before  my  lips 
moved,  for  he  cut  me  short  with:  'There,  that's 
all  right;  never  waste  a  word  when  a  wink  will  do. 
Now,  am  I  right  or  am  I  wrong  in  supposing  that 
you  have  a  good  friend  whose  name  is  Lancelot 
Amber?' 

I  was  determined  that  I  would  speak  this 
time,  and  I  almost  shouted  in  my  eagerness  to  say 
'Yes.' 

'That  will  be  a  good  voice  in  a  hurricane,'  the 
57 


MARJORIE 

blue  gentleman  said  approvingly.  Then  he  began 
again,  with  the  same  formula,  which  I  suppose 
pleased  his  palate. 

'Am  I  right  or  am  I  wrong  in  assuming  that  he 
has  told  you  of  a  certain  old  sea-dog  of  an  uncle  of 
his  whose  name  is  Marmaduke  Amber?' 

I  nodded  energetically,  for  after  his  comment  I 
thought  it  best  to  hold  my  tongue. 

'Very  good.  Now,  am  I  right  or  am  I  wrong  in 
supposing  that  you  feel  pretty  sure  at  this  moment 
that  you  are  looking  upon  that  same  old  sea-dog, 
Marmaduke  Amber?' 

This  time  I  smiled  in  good  earnest  at  his  fantastic 
fashion  of  self-introduction,  observing  which  the 
blue  gentleman  swayed  me  backwards  and  forwards 
several  times  with  his  right  hand,  and  I  felt  that  if 
I  had  been  an  oak  of  the  forest  he  would  haw: 
swayed  me  just  as  easily,  while  he  said  with  a  kind 
of  approbative  chuckle:  'That's  right — a  very 
good  lad;  that's  right — a  very  smart  lad.'  Then 
he  suddenly  lifted  his  hand,  and  I,  unprepared  for 
the  removal  of  my  prop,  staggered  against  the 
counter,  while  he  put  another  question. 

'And  what  do  you  think  Marmaduke  Amber 
wants  with  you  ?' 

I  shook  my  head,  and  said  I  could  not  guess. 
58 


THE  GENTLEMAN   IN   BLUE 

'Why,  to  make  a  man  of  you,  to  be  sure,'  the 
gentleman  answered.  'You  are  spoiling  here  in  this 
hen-coop.  Now,  Lancelot  loves  you  like  a  brother, 
and  I  love  Lancelot  like  a  father,  and  I  am  quite 
prepared  to  take  you  to  my  heart  for  Lancelot's 
sake,  for  he  is  scarce  likely  to  be  deceived  in  you. 
You  must  know  that  I  am  going  to  embark  upon  a 
certain  enterprise — of  which  more  hereafter.  Now, 
the  long  and  the  short  of  it  is  that  Lancelot  is  com- 
ing with  me,  and  he  wants  to  know,  and  I  want  to 
know,  if  you  will  come  too?' 

'If  I  would  come  too !' 

My  heart  seemed  to  stand  still  for  joy  at  the  very 
thought.  Why,  here  was  the  chance  I  was  longing 
for,  dreaming  of,  day  and  night;  here  was  a  great 
ship  waiting  to  carry  me  on  that  wrinkled  highway 
of  my  boyish  ambition;  here  was  the  change  from 
the  little  life  of  a  little  town  into  the  great  perils  and 
brave  existence  of  the  sea ;  here  was  a  good-bye  to 
love  and  sorrow,  and  the  putting  on  of  manhood 
and  manly  purposes ! 

Would  I  not  come !  My  lips  trembled  with  de- 
light and  my  speech  faltered,  and  then  I  glanced  at 
my  mother.  She  was  very  pale  and  sad,  and  at 
the  sight  my  joy  turned  to  sorrow.  She  saw  the 
change  on  my  face,  and  she  said,  very  quietly  and 

59 


MARJORIE 

resolutely :  'I  have  given  my  consent,  my  dear  son, 
to  your  going  hence.  Perhaps  it  is  for  the  best.' 

'Mother,'  I  said,  turning  towards  her  with  a 
choking  voice,  'indeed — indeed  it  is  for  the  best. 
I  should  only  mope  here  and  fret,  and  come  to  no 
good,  and  give  you  no  pride  in  me  at  all.  I  must 
go  away ;  it  will  not  be  for  long ;  and  when  I  come 
back  I  shall  have  forgotten  my  follies  and  learnt 
wisdom.'  Lord,  how  easy  we  thing  it  in  our  youth 
to  learn  wisdom!  'And  you  will  be  proud  to  see 
me,  and  love  me  better  than  ever,  for  I  shall  deserve 
it  better.' 

Then  my  mother  wrung  her  hands  together  and 
sighed,  and  tried  to  speak,  but  she  could  not ;  and 
she  turned  away  from  us  and  moved  further  back 
into  the  room.  I  made  a  step  forward,  but  the 
stranger  caught  me  by  the  shoulder,  and  swinging 
me  round,  guided  me  to  the  door;  and  at  the  door 
we  stood  in  silence  together  for  some  seconds,  star- 
ing out  into  the  street. 

'Have  patience,  lad,'  he  whispered  into  my  ear; 
'it  is  a  good  woman's  weakness,  and  it  will  pass 
soon.  She  knows  and  I  know  that  it  is  best  for  you 
to  go.' 

I  could  say  nothing,  for  my  heart  was  too  full 
with  the  joy  of  going  and  with  grief  for  my 

60 


THE   GENTLEMAN  IN   BLUE 

mother's  grief.  But  I  felt  in  my  soul  that  I  must 
go,  or  else  I  should  never  come  to  any  good  in  this 
world,  which,  after  all,  would  break  my  mother's 
heart  more  surely  and  sadly. 

Presently  we  heard  her  voice,  a  little  trembling, 
call  on  Mr.  Amber  by  his  name,  and  we  went  slowly 
back  together.  Already,  as  I  stood  by  that  stalwart 
gentleman  and  timed  my  step  to  his  stride,  I  began 
to  feel  as  if  I  had  known  him  all  my  life,  and  had 
loved  him  as  we  love  some  dear  kin. 

I  do  not  know  how  I  can  quite  express  what  I 
then  felt,  and  felt  ever  after,  in  his  company — a 
kind  of  exultation,  such  as  martial  music  stirs  in  any 
manly  bosom,  or  as  we  draw  in  from  the  breath  of 
some  brave  ballad.  It  would  be  impossible,  surely, 
to  feel  aught  but  courageous  in  such  cheerful,  val- 
iant, self-reliant  fellowship. 


61 


CHAPTER  VII 

CAPTAIN  MARMADUKE'S  PLAN 

SEATED  in  the  back  parlour,  with  his  chair  tilted 
slightly  back,  Captain  Marmaduke  Amber  set  forth 
his  scheme  to  us — perhaps  I  should  say  to  me,  for 
my  mother  had  heard  it  all,  or  most  of  it,  already, 
and  paid,  I  fancy,  but  little  heed  to  its  repetition. 
For  all  the  attention  I  paid,  I  gained,  I  fear  me,  but 
a  very  vague  idea  of  Captain  Marmaduke's  pur- 
pose. I  was  far  too  excited  to  think  of  anything 
clearly  beyond  the  fact  that  I  was  actually  going 
a-travelling,  and  that  the  jovial  gentleman  with  the 
ruddy  face  and  the  china-blue  eyes  was  my  good 
angel.  Still,  I  gathered  that  Captain  Amber  would 
be  a  colonist — a  gentleman-adventurer;  after  a 
new  fashion,  and  not  for  his  own  ends. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  kind  of  Utopia  which  Captain 
Amber  dreamt  of  founding  in  a  far  corner  of  the 
world,  beneath  the  Southern  Cross.  The  Captain 
had  taken  it  into  his  gallant  head  that  the  old  world 
was  growing  too  small  and  its  ways  too  evil  for  its 


CAPTAIN    MARMADUKE'S    PLAN 

people,  and  that  much  might  be  done  in  the  way  of 
the  regeneration  of  human  society  under  softer  sur- 
roundings and  beneath  purer  skies.  His  hope,  his 
belief,  was  that  if  a  colony  of  earnest  human  beings 
were  to  be  founded,  established  upon  true  principles 
of  justice  and  of  virtue,  it  might  set  an  example 
which  would  spread  and  spread  until  at  last  it  should 
regenerate  the  earth. 

It  was  a  noble  scheme  indeed,  prompted  by  a 
kindly  and  honourable  nature,  and  I  must  say  that 
it  sounded  very  well  as  the  periods  swelled  from 
Captain  Amber's  lips.  For  Captain  Amber  was  a 
scholar  and  a  gentleman  as  well  as  a  man  of  action, 
and  he  spoke  and  wrote  with  a  certain  florid  grace 
that  suited  him  well,  and  that  impressed  me  at  the 
time  very  profoundly.  It  seemed  to  me  that  Cap- 
tain Amber  was  not  merely  one  of  the  noblest  of 
men — which  indeed  he  was,  as  I  was  to  learn  often 
and  often  afterwards — but  also  one  of  the  wisest, 
and  that  his  scheme  of  colonisation  was  the  scheme 
of  a  statesman  and  a  philosopher. 

How  precisely  the  thing  was  to  be  done,  and 
why  Captain  Marmaduke  seemed  so  confident  of 
finding  a  new  Garden  of  Eden  or  Earthly  Paradise 
at  the  other  end  of  the  world,  I  did  not  rightly 
comprehend  then ;  nor,  indeed,  have  I  striven  much 

63 


MARJORIE 

to  comprehend  since.  But  I  gathered  this  much 
— that  Captain  Marmaduke  had  retired  from  the 
service  to  carry  out  his  fancy;  that  he  had  bought 
land  of  the  Dutch  in  the  Indies ;  that  he  had  plenty 
of  money  at  his  command;  and  that  the  enterprise 
was  all  at  his  charges.  One  thing  was  quite  cer- 
tain— Captain  Marmaduke  had  got  a  ship,  and  a 
good  one  too,  now  riding  at  anchor  in  Sendennis 
harbour;  and  in  Sendennis  Captain  Marmaduke 
only  meant  to  stay  long  enough  to  get  together  a 
few  more  folk  to  complete  his  company  and  his 
colony.  I  was  to  come  along,  not  as  a  colonist, 
unless  I  chose,  but  as  a  kind  of  companion  to 
Lancelot,  to  learn  all  the  tricks  of  the  sailor's  trade, 
and  to  return  when  Captain  Marmaduke,  having 
fairly  established  his  colony,  set  out  on  his  return 
voyage. 

For  it  seemed  that  if  I  had  forgotten,  or  seemed 
to  have  forgotten,  Lancelot,  he  had  not  forgotten 
me,  but  had  carried  me  in  his  thoughts  through  all 
the  months  that  had  grown  to  years  since  last 
we  met.  Thus,  when  Captain  Amber  first  began 
to  carry  out  his  dream  of  a  colony,  Lancelot  begged 
him  to  give  me  a  share  in  the  adventure.  For 
Lancelot  remembered  well  my  hunger  and  thirst 
for  travel,  and  had  sworn  to  help  me  to  my  heart's 

64 


CAPTAIN    MARMADUKE'S    PLAN 

desire.  And  it  seemed  to  him  that  in  this  enter- 
prise of  his  uncle's  lurked  my  chance  of  seeing  a 
little  of  the  world. 

Captain  Amber,  who  loved  Lancelot  better  than 
any  being  in  the  world  save  one,  promised  that  if 
I  were  willing,  and  seemed  a  lad  of  spirit,  I  should 
go  along  with  Lancelot  and  himself  to  help  build 
the  colony  at  the  butt  end  of  the  world.  As  the 
ship  was  to  sail  from  Sendennis — that  being  Cap- 
tain Amber's  native  place — he  promised  Lancelot 
that  he  would  seek  me  out,  and  see  if  I  pleased 
him,  and  if  the  plan  pleased  me.  And  I,  on  fire 
with  the  thought  of  getting  away  from  Sendennis 
and  feeling  the  width  of  the  world — all  I  wanted 
to  know  was  how  soon  we  might  be  starting. 

'  A  fortnight  is  our  longest  delay,'  the  Captain 
said;  'we  sail  sooner  if  we  can.  Report  yourself 
to  me  to-morrow  morning  between  eleven  and  noon. 
You  will  find  me  at  the  Noble  Rose.  You  know 
where  that  is,  I  suppose?' 

Now,  as  the  Noble  Rose  was  the  first  inn  in 
Sendennis,  and  one  that  the  town  was  proud  of,  I 
naturally  knew  of  its  whereabouts,  though  I  was 
not  so  well  acquainted  with  it  as  with  a  certain  other 
and  more  ill-favoured  hostelry  that  shall  be  name- 
less. The  Noble  Rose  was  in  favour  with  the 

65 


MARJORIE 

country  gentry  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  Chisholm 
Hunt,  and  it  would  scarcely  have  welcomed  a 
tradesman's  son  within  its  walls  as  readily  as  the 
rapscallion  Skull  and  Spectacles  did.  But  I  felt 
that  I  should  be  welcomed  anywhere  as  the  friend 
of  Captain  Marmaduke  Amber,  for  as  a  friend  I 
already  began  to  regard  him.  So  I  assured  him 
that  I  would  duly  present  myself  to  him  at  the 
Noble  Rose  on  the  morrow,  between  eleven  of  the 
clock  and  noon. 

'That's  right,  lad,'  he  said ;  and  then,  turning  to 
my  mother,  he  took  her  worn  hand  in  his  strong 
one,  and,  to  my  surprise  and  pleasure,  kissed  it  with 
a  reverential  courtesy,  as  if  she  had  been  a  Court 
lady. 

As  Captain  Marmaduke  turned  to  go  I  caught 
at  his  hand. 

'Where  is  Lancelot?'  I  asked;  'is  he  here  in  Sen- 
dennis?'  For  in  the  midst  of  all  the  joy  and  won- 
der of  this  sea  business  my  heart  was  on  fire  to  see 
that  face  again. 

Captain  Marmaduke  laughed. 

'If  he  were  in  Sendennis  at  this  hour  he  would 
be  here,  I  make  no  doubt.  He  is  in  London,  look- 
ing after  one  or  two  matters  which  methought  he 
could  manage  better  than  I  could.  But  he  will  be 

66 


CAPTAIN    MARMADUKE'S    PLAN 

here  in  good  time,  and  it  is  time  for  me  to  be  off. 
Remember,  my  lad,  to-morrow,'  and  with  a  bow 
for  my  mother  and  a  bear's  grip  for  me  he  passed 
outside  the  shop,  leaving  my  mother  and  me  staring 
at  each  other  in  great  amazement.  But  for  all  my 
amazement  the  main  thought  in  my  mind  was  of 
a  certain  picture  of  a  girl's  face  that  lay,  shrined 
in  a  cedar-wood  box,  hidden  away  in  my  room  up- 
stairs. And  so  it  happened  that  though  my  lips 
were  busy  with  the  name  of  Lancelot  my  brain  was 
busy  with  the  name  of  Marjorie. 


67 


CHAPTER    VIII 

THE   COMPANY  AT  THE   NOBLE   ROSE 

THE  next  morning  I  was  up  betimes;  indeed,  I 
do  not  think  that  I  slept  very  much  that  night,  and 
such  sleep  as  I  did  have  was  of  a  disturbed  sort, 
peopled  with  wild  sea-dreams  of  all  kinds.  In  my 
impatience  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  the  time  would 
never  come  for  me  to  keep  my  appointment  with 
Captain  Marmaduke ;  but  then,  as  ever,  the  hands 
of  the  clock  went  round  their  appointed  circle,  and 
at  half-past  eleven  I  was  at  my  destination.  The 
Noble  Rose  stood  in  the  market  square.  It  was 
a  fine  place  enough,  or  seemed  so  to  my  eyes  then, 
with  its  pillared  portal  and  its  great  bow-windows 
at  each  side,  where  the  gentlemen  of  quality  loved 
to  sit  of  fine  evenings  drinking  their  ale  or  their 
brandy,  and  watching  the  world  go  by. 

In  the  left-hand  window  as  I  came  up  I  saw 
that  the  Captain  was  sitting,  and  as  I  came  up  he 
saw  me  and  beckoned  me  to  come  inside. 

With  a  beating  heart  I  entered  the  inn  hall,  and 
was  making  for  the  Captain's  room  when  a  servant 
barred  my  way. 

68 


THE  COMPANY  AT  THE  NOBLE  ROSE 

'Now  then,  where  are  you  posting  to  ?'  he  asked, 
with  an  insolent  good-humour.  'This  is  a  private 
room,  and  holds  private  company.' 

'I  know  that,'  I  answered,  'but  it  holds  a  friend 
of  mine,  whom  I  want  to  see  and  who  wants  to 
see  me.' 

The  man  laughed  rudely.  'Very  likely,'  he  said, 
'that  the  company  in  the  Dolphin  are  friends  of 
yours,'  and  then,  as  I  was  still  pressing  forward, 
he  put  out  his  hand  as  if  to  stay  me. 

This  angered  me;  and  taking  the  knave  by  the 
collar,  I  swung  him  aside  so  briskly  that  he  went 
staggering  across  the  hall  and  brought  up  ruefully 
humped  against  a  settle.  Before  he  could  come 
at  me  again  the  door  of  the  Dolphin  opened,  and 
Captain  Marmaduke  appeared  upon  the  threshold. 
He  looked  in  some  astonishment  from  the  rogue 
scowling  on  the  settle  to  me  flushed  with  anger. 

'Heyday,  lad,'  he  said,  'are  you  having  a  bout 
of  fisticuffs  to  keep  your  hand  in?' 

'This  fellow,'  I  said,  'tried  to  hinder  me  from 
entering  yonder  room,  and  I  did  but  push  him 
aside  out  of  my  path.' 

'Hum !'  said  Captain  Marmaduke,  "twas  a  lusty 
push,  and  cleared  your  course,  certainly.  Well, 
well,  I  like  you  the  better,  lad,  for  not  being  lightly 

69 


MARJORIE 

balked  in  your  business.'  And  therewith  he  led 
me  into  the  Dolphin. 

There  was  a  sea-coal  fire  in  the  grate,  for  the 
day  was  raw  and  the  glow  welcome.  Beside  the 
fire  an  elderly  gentleman  sat  in  an  arm-chair.  He 
had  a  black  silk  skull-cap  on  his  head,  and  his  face 
was  wrinkled  and  his  eyes  were  bright,  and  his 
face,  now  turned  upon  me,  showed  harsh.  I  knew 
of  course  that  he  was  Lancelot's  other  uncle,  he 
who  would  never  suffer  that  I  should  set  foot  within 
his  gates.  Indeed,  his  face  in  many  points  re- 
sembled that  of  his  brother — as  much  as  an  ugly 
face  can  resemble  a  fair  one.  There  was  a  likeness 
in  the  forehead  and  there  was  a  likeness  in  the  eyes, 
which  were  something  of  the  same  china-blue 
colour,  though  of  a  lighter  shade,  and  with  only 
cold  unkindness  there  instead  of  the  genial  kind- 
ness of  the  Captain's. 

A  man  stood  on  the  other  side  of  the  open  fire- 
place, a  man  of  about  forty-five,  of  something  over 
the  middle  height  and  marvellously  well-built.  He 
was  clad  in  what,  though  it  was  not  distinctly  a 
seaman's  habit,  yet  suggested  the  ways  of  the  sea, 
and  there  was  a  kind  of  foppishness  about  his  rig 
which  set  me  wondering,  for  I  was  used  to  a  slov- 
enly squalor  or  a  slovenly  bravery  in  the  sailors  I 

70 


THE  COMPANY  AT  THE  NOBLE  ROSE 

knew  most  of.  He  was  a  handsome  fellow,  with 
dark  curling  hair  and  dark  eyes,  and  a  dark  skin 
that  seemed  Italian. 

I  have  heard  men  say  that  there  is  no  art  to  read 
the  mind's  complexion  in  the  face.  These  fellows 
pretend  that  your  villain  is  often  smooth-faced  as 
well  as  smooth-tongued,  and  pleases  the  eye  to  the 
benefit  of  his  mischievous  ends.  Whereas,  on  the 
other  hand,  many  an  honest  fellow  is  damned  for  a 
scoundrel  because  with  the  nature  of  an  angel  he 
has  the  mask  of  a  fiend.  In  which  two  fancies  I 
have  no  belief.  A  rogue  is  a  rogue  all  the  world 
over,  and  flies  his  flag  in  his  face  for  those  who  can 
read  the  bunting.  He  may  flatter  the  light  eye  or 
the  cold  eye,  but  the  warm  gaze  will  find  some 
lurking  line  by  the  lip,  some  wryness  of  feature, 
some  twist  of  the  devil's  fingers  in  his  face,  to  betray 
him.  And  as  for  an  honest  man  looking  like  a 
rogue,  the  thing  is  impossible.  I  have  seen  no 
small  matter  of  marvels  in  my  time — even,  as  I 
think,  the  great  sea  serpent  himself,  though  this 
is  not  the  time  and  place  to  record  it — but  I  have 
never  seen  the  marvel  of  a  good  man  with  a  bad 
man's  face,  and  it  was  my  first  and  last  impression 
that  the  face  of  Cornelys  Jensen  was  the  face  of  a 
rogue. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE   TALK   IN   THE    DOLPHIN 

CAPTAIN  MARMADUKE  presented  me  to  the  two 
men,  while  his  hand  still  rested  on  my  shoulder. 

'Brother,'  he  said,  'this  is  Master  Ralph  Crown- 
inshield,  of  whom  you  have  often  heard  from 
Lancelot.' 

'Aye,'  said  the  old  man,  looking  at  me  without 
any  salutation.  'Aye,  I  have  heard  of  him  from 
Lancelot.' 

Captain  Marmaduke  now  turned  towards  the 
other  man,  who  had  never  taken  his  eyes  off  me 
since  I  entered  the  room. 

'Cornelys  Jensen,  here  is  Master  Ralph  Crown- 
inshield,  your  shipmate  that  is  to  be.' 

Cornelys  Jensen  came  across  the  room  in  a  couple 
of  swinging  strides  and  held  out  his  hand  to  me. 
Something  in  his  carriage  reminded  me  of  certain 
play-actors  who  had  come  to  the  town  once.  This 
man  carried  himself  like  a  stage  king.  We  clasped 
hands,  and  he  spoke. 

72 


THE   TALK  IN  THE    DOLPHIN 

'Salutation,  shipmate.' 

Then  we  unclasped,  and  he  returned  to  his  post 
by  the  fireplace  with  the  same  exaggeration  of  ac- 
tion as  before. 

The  old  man  broke  a  short  silence.  'Well, 
Marmaduke,  why  have  you  brought  this  boy 
here?' 

The  Captain  motioned  me  to  a  seat,  which  I 
took,  and  sat  back  himself  in  his  former  place. 

'Because  the  boy  is  going  with  me,  and  I  thought 
that  you  might  have  something  to  say  to  him  before 
he  went.' 

'Something  to  say  to  him?' 

The  old  man  repeated  the  words  like  a  sneer, 
then  he  faced  on  me  again  and  addressed  me  with 
an  unmoving  face. 

'Yes,  I  have  something  to  say  to  you.  Young 
man,  you  are  going  on  a  fool's  errand.' 

Captain  Marmaduke  laughed  a  little  at  this,  but 
I  could  see  that  he  was  not  pleased. 

'Come,  brother,  don't  say  that,'  he  said. 

'But  I  do  say  it,'  the  old  gentleman  repeated. 
'A  fool's  errand  it  is,  and  a  fool's  errand  it  will  be 
called;  and  it  shall  not  be  said  of  Nathaniel  Amber 
that  he  saw  his  brother  make  a  fool  of  himself 
without  telling  him  his  mind.' 

73 


MARJORIE 

'I  can  always  trust  you  for  that,  Nathaniel,'  said 
the  Captain  gravely.  The  old  man  went  on  without 
heeding  the  interruption. 

'A  fool's  errand  I  call  it,  and  shall  always  call 
it.  What  a  plague!  can  a  man  find  moneys  and 
a  tall  ship  and  stout  fellows,  and  set  them  to  no 
better  use  than  to  found  a  Fool's  Paradise  with 
them  at  the  heel  of  the  world?  Ships  were  made 
for  traffic  and  shipmen  for  trade,  and  not  for  such 
whimsies.' 

The  Captain  frowned,  but  he  said  nothing,  and 
tapped  the  toes  of  his  crossed  boots  with  his  malac- 
ca.  But  Cornelys  Jensen,  advancing  forward,  put 
in  his  word. 

'Saving  your  presence,  Master  Nathaniel,'  he 
said,  'but  is  not  this  a  most  honourable  and  com- 
mendable enterprise?  What  better  thing  could  a 
gallant  gentleman  do  than  to  found  such  a  brother- 
hood of  honest  hearts  and  honest  hands  as  Captain 
Marmaduke  here  proposes?' 

The  frown  faded  from  the  Captain's  face,  and  a 
pleased  flush  deepened  its  warm  colour.  It  is  a 
curious  thing  that  men  of  his  kidney — men  with  an 
unerring  eye  for  a  good  man — have  often  a  poor 
eye  for  a  rogue.  It  amazed  me  to  see  my  Captain 
so  pleased  at  the  praisings  of  Cornelys  Jensen.  But 

74 


THE  TALK   IN  THE    DOLPHIN 

I  was  to  find  out  later  that  he  was  the  easiest  man 
in  the  world  to  deceive. 

'Spoken  like  a  man,  Cornelys;  spoken  like  a 
true  man,'  he  said. 

'I  must  ever  speak  my  mind,'  said  Cornelys  Jen- 
sen. 'I  may  be  a  rough  sea-fellow,  but  if  I  have 
a  thing  to  say  I  must  needs  spit  it  out,  whether  it 
please  or  pain.  And  I  say  roundly  here,  in  your 
honour's  presence,  that  I  think  this  to  be  a  noble 
venture,  and  that  I  have  never,  since  first  I  saw 
salt  water,  prepared  for  any  cruise  with  so  much 
pleasure.' 

Which  was  indeed  true,  but  not  as  he  intended 
my  Captain  to  take  it,  and  as  my  Captain  did  take 
it. 

'Well,'  grumbled  Nathaniel,  'you  are  a  pair  of 
fools,  both  of  you,'  and  as  he  spoke  he  glanced 
from  one  to  the  other  with  those  little  shrewd  eyes 
of  his,  looking  at  my  Captain  first  and  then  at 
Cornelys. 

Young  as  I  was,  and  fresh  to  the  reading  of  the 
faces  of  crafty  men,  I  thought  that  the  look  in  his 
eyes — for  his  face  changed  not  at  all — was  very 
different  when  they  rested  on  the  brown  face  of 
Cornelys  Jensen  than  when  they  looked  on  the 
florid  visage  of  my  good  patron.  He  glanced  with 

75 


MARJORIE 

contempt  upon  his  kinsman,  but  I  did  not  sec  con- 
tempt in  the  gaze  he  fixed  upon  Cornelys,  who  re- 
turned his  gaze  with  a  steady,  unabashed  stare. 

'Yes,'  the  old  man  went  on,  'you  are  a  pair  of 
fools,  and  a  fool  and  his  money  is  a  pithy  proverb, 
and  true  enough  of  one  of  you.  But  it  is  well  some- 
times to  treat  a  fool  according  to  his  folly,  and  so, 
if  you  are  really  determined  upon  this  advent- 
ure  ' 

He  paused,  and  looked  again  at  the  Captain  and 
again  at  Cornelys  Jensen. 

Cornelys  Jensen  remained  perfectly  unmoved, 
The  Captain's  face  grew  a  shade  redder. 

'I  am,'  he  said  shortly. 

'Very  well,  then,'  said  the  old  gentleman;  'as 
you  are  my  brother,  I  must  needs  humour  you 
You  shall  have  the  moneys  you  need ' 

'Now  that's  talking,'  interrupted  the  Captain. 

'Although  I  know  it  is  a  foolhardy  thing  for 
me  to  do.' 

'You  get  good  enough  security,  it  seems  to  me,' 
said  the  Captain,  a  thought  gruffly. 

'Maybe  I  do,'  said  Nathaniel,  'and  maybe  I  do 
not.  Maybe  I  have  a  fancy  for  my  fine  guineas,  and 
do  not  care  to  part  with  them,  however  good  the 
security  may  be.' 

76 


THE  TALK   IN  THE   DOLPHIN 

'Lord,  how  you  chop  and  change !'  said  the  Cap- 
tain. 'Act  like  a  plain  man,  brother.  Will  you  or 
will  you  not?' 

'I  have  said  that  I  will,'  said  Nathaniel  slowly. 

I  could  see  that  for  sonie  reason  it  amused  him 
to  irritate  his  brother  by  his  reluctance  and  by  his 
slow  speech.  The  ancient  knave  knew  it  for  the 
surest  way  to  spur  him  to  the  enterprise. 

'When  can  I  have  the  money?'  asked  the  Cap- 
tain. 

'Not  to-day,'  said  Nathaniel  slowly,  'nor  yet  to- 
morrow.' 

'Why  not  to-morrow?  It  would  serve  me  well 
to-morrow.' 

'Very  well,'  said  Nathaniel  with  a  sigh;  'to- 
morrow it  shall  be,  though  you  do  jostle  me  vilely.' 

'Man  alive!  I  want  to  be  off  to  sea,'  said  the 
Captain. 

'The  sooner  we  are  off  the  better/  interpolated 
Jensen;  and  once  again  I  noted  that  Nathaniel 
shot  a  swift  glance  at  him  through  his  half-closed 
lids. 

'You  are  bustling  fellows,  you  that  follow  the 
sea  life,'  said  Nathaniel.  'Well,  it  shall  be  to- 
morrow, and  I  will  have  all  the  papers  made  ready 
and  the  money  in  fat  bags,  and  you  will  have 

77 


MARJORIE 

nothing  to  do  but  to  sign  the  one  and  to  pocket  the 
other.     And  now  I  must  be  jogging.' 

The  Captain  made  no  show  of  staying  him.  Na- 
thaniel moved  towards  the  door  slowly,  weighing 
up  upon  his  crutched  stick. 

'Farewell,  Marmaduke !'  he  said.  He  took  the 
Captain's  hand,  but  soon  parted  with  it. 

Then  he  looked  at  me. 

'Good-day,  young  fellow,'  he  said.  'Do  not  for, 
get  that  I  told  you  you  went  on  a  fool's  errand.' 

I  drew  aside  to  make  way  for  him,  and  he  left 
the  room  without  a  look  or  a  word  for  Cornelys 
Jensen.  In  another  minute  I  saw  him  through  ths 
window  hobbling  along  the  street. 

He  looked  malignant  enough,  but  I  did  not  know 
then  how  malignant  a  thing  he  was.  I  was  ever 
a  weak  wretch  at  figures  and  business  and  finance, 
but  it  was  made  plain  to  me  later  that  Master  Na 
thaniel  had  so  handled  Master  Marmaduke  in  this 
matter  of  the  lending  of  moneys,  that  if  by  any 
chance  anything  grave  were  to  happen  to  Master 
Marmaduke  and  to  the  lad  Lancelot  and  the  lass 
Marjorie  all  that  belonged  to  Captain  Marma- 
duke would  swell  the  wealth  of  his  brother.  And 
here  were  Captain  Marmaduke  and  Lancelot  and 
Marjorie  all  going  to  sea  together  and  going  in 

78 


THE   TALK   IN  THE    DOLPHIN 

company  of  Cornelys  Jensen.  And  I  know  now 
that  Master  Nathaniel  knew  Cornelys  Jensen  very 
well.  But  I  did  not  know  it  then  or  dream  it  as  I 
turned  from  the  window  and  looked  at  the  hand- 
some rascal,  who  seemed  agog  to  be  going. 

'Shall  you  need  me  longer,  Captain?'  Jensen 
asked.  'There  is  much  to  do  which  should  be 
doing.' 

'Nay,'  said  the  Captain,  'you  are  free,  for  me. 
I  know  that  there  is  much  to  do,  and  I  know  that 
you  are  the  man  to  do  it.  But  I  shall  see  you 
in  the  evening.' 

Jensen  saluted  the  Captain,  nodded  to  me,  and 
strode  out  of  the  room.  Then  the  Captain  sat  me 
down  and  talked  for  some  twenty  minutes  of  his 
plan  and  his  hope.  If  I  did  not  understand  much, 
I  felt  that  I  was  a  fortunate  fellow  to  be  in  such 
a  glorious  enterprise.  I  wish  I  had  been  more 
mindful  of  all  that  he  said,  but  my  mind  was  ever 
somewhat  of  a  sieve  for  long  speeches,  and  the  dear 
gentleman  spoke  at  length. 

Presently  he  consulted  his  watch. 

'The  coach  should  be  in  soon,'  he  said.  'Let  us 
go  forth  and  await  it.' 

We  went  out  of  the  Dolphin  together  into  the 
hall,  and  there  we  came  to  a  halt,  for  he  had 

79 


MARJORIE 

thought  upon  some  new  point  in  his  undertaking, 
and  he  began  to  hold  forth  to  me  upon  that. 

I  can  see  the  whole  place  now — the  dark  oak 
walls,  the  dark  oak  stairs,  and  my  Captain's  blue 
coat  and  scarlet  face  making  a  brave  bit  of  colour 
in  the  sombre  place.  The  Noble  Rose  is  gone  long 
since,  but  that  hall  lives  in  my  memory  for  a  thing 
that  just  then  happened. 


80 


CHAPTER   X 

SHE    COMES    DOWN   THE    STAIRS 

FROM  the  hall  of  the  Noble  Rose  sprang  an  oak 
staircase,  and  at  this  instant  a  girl  began  to  descend 
the  stairs.  She  was  quite  young — a  tall  slip  of  a 
thing,  who  scarcely  seemed  nineteen — and  she  had 
hair  of  a  yellow  that  looked  as  if  it  loved  the  sun, 
and  her  eyes  were  of  a  softer  blue  than  my  friend's. 
I  knew  that  at  last  I  looked  on  Marjorie,  Lancelot's 
Marjorie,  the  maid  whose  very  picture  had  seemed 
farther  from  me  than  the  farthest  star.  Her  face 
was  fresh,  as  of  one  who  has  enjoyed  liberally  the 
open  air,  and  not  sat  mewed  within  four  walls  like 
a  town  miss.  I  noted,  too,  that  her  steps  as  she 
came  down  the  stairs  were  not  taken  mincingly,  as 
school-girls  are  wont  to  walk,  but  with  decision, 
like  a  boy. 

Indeed,  though  she  was  a  beautiful  girl,  and  soon 
to  make  a  beautiful  woman,  there  was  a  quality 
of  manliness  in  her  which  pleased  me  much  then 
and  more  thereafter.  There  is  a  play  I  have  seen 
acted  in  which  a  girl  goes  to  live  in  a  wood  in  a 

61 


MARJORIE 

man's  habit.  I  have  thought  since  that  she  of  the 
play  must  have  showed  like  this  girl,  and  indeed 
I  speak  but  what  I  know  when  I  say  that  man's 
apparel  became  her  bravely.  Now,  as  she  camt; 
down  the  stairs  she  was  clad  in  some  kind  of 
flowered  gown  of  blue  and  white  which  set  off  her 
fair  loveliness  divinely.  She  carried  some  yellow 
flowers  at  her  girdle;  they  were  Lent  lilies,  as  I 
believe. 

This  apparition  distracting  my  attention  from 
the  Captain's  words,  he  wheeled  round  upon  his 
heel  and  learnt  the  cause  of  my  inattention.  Im- 
mediately he  smiled  and  called  to  the  maiden. 

'Come  here,  niece;  I  have  found  you  a  new 
friend.' 

She  came  forward,  smiling  to  him,  and  then 
looked  at  me  with  an  expression  of  the  sweetest 
gravity  in  the  world.  Surely  there  never  was  such 
a  girl  in  the  world  since  the  sun  first  shone  on 
maidens. 

'Lass,'  said  the  Captain,  'this  is  our  new  friend. 
His  name  is  Raphael  Crowninshield,  but,  because 
I  think  he  has  more  of  the  man  in  him  than  of  the 
archangel,  I  mean  to  call  him  Ralph.' 

The  girl  held  out  her  hand  to  me  in  a  way  that 
reminded  me  much  of  Lancelot. 

82 


SHE  COMES  DOWN  THE  STAIRS 

As  I  took  her  hand  I  felt  that  my  face  was 
flaming  like  the  sun  in  a  sea-fog — no  less  round 
and  no  less  red.  I  was  timid  with  girls,  for  I  knew 
but  few,  and  after  my  misfortune  I  had  shunned 
those  few  most  carefully.  She  was  not  shy  herself, 
though,  and  she  did  not  seem  to  note  my  shyness — 
or,  if  she  did,  it  gave  her  no  pleasure  to  note  it,  as 
it  would  have  given  many  less  gracious  maidens. 
Her  hand  was  not  very  small,  but  it  was  finely 
fashioned — a  noble  hand,  like  my  Captain's  and 
like  Lancelot's;  a  hand  that  gave  a  true  grasp;  a 
hand  that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  hold. 

'Shall  I  call  you  Ralph  or  Raphael?'  she  said. 

My  face  grew  hotter,  and  I  stammered  foolishly 
as  I  answered  her  that  I  begged  she  would  call  me 
by  what  name  she  pleased,  but  that  if  it  pleased  my 
Captain  to  call  me  Ralph,  then  Ralph  I  was  ready 
to  be. 

'Well  and  good,  Ralph,'  she  said. 

We  had  parted  hands  by  this  time,  but  I  was 
still  staring  at  her,  full  of  wonder. 

'This  boy,'  said  the  Captain,  'goes  with  us  in 
the  Royal  Christopher.  We  will  find  our  New 
World  together.  He  is  a  good  fellow,  and  should 
make  a  good  sailor  in  time.' 

As  the  Captain  spoke  of  me  and  the  girl  looked 
83 


MARJORIE 

at  me  I  felt  hotter  and  more  foolish,  and  could 
think  of  nothing  to  say.  But  even  if  I  could  have 
thought  of  anything  to  say  I  had  no  time  to  say 
it  in,  for  there  came  an  interruption  which  ended 
my  embarrassment;  a  horn  sounded  loudly,  and 
every  soul  in  Sendennis  knew  that  the  coach  was  in. 

In  a  moment  everything  was  changed.  The 
Captain  took  his  hand  from  my  shoulder;  the  girl 
took  her  gaze  from  my  face.  There  was  a  clatter 
of  wheels,  a  trampling  of  horses'  hoofs.  The  coach 
had  drawn  up  in  front  of  the  inn  door.  We  three — 
my  Captain,  the  girl,  and  myself — ran  across  the 
hall  and  out  on  the  portico.  There  was  the  usual 
crowd  about  the  newly  arrived  coach;  but  there 
was  only  one  person  in  the  crowd  for  whom  we 
looked,  and  him  we  soon  found. 

A  lithe  figure  in  a  buff  travelling  coat  swung  off 
the  box-seat,  and  Lancelot  was  with  us  again.  He 
had  an  arm  around  the  girl's  neck,  and  kissed  her 
with  no  heed  of  the  people;  he  had  a  hand  clasped 
between  the  two  hands  of  the  Captain,  who 
squeezed  his  fingers  fondly.  Then  he  looked  at 
me,  and  leaving  his  kindred  he  caught  both  my 
hands  in  both  his,  while  his  joy  shone  in  his  eyes. 

'Raphael,  my  old  Raphael,  is  it  you?'  he  said; 
'but  my  heart  is  glad  of  this.' 

84 


SHE   COMES  DOWN  THE  STAIRS 

I  wrung  his  hands.  I  could  scarcely  speak  for 
happiness  at  seeing  him  again. 

'You  must  not  call  him  Raphael  any  more,'  the 
-girl  said  demurely.  'He  is  to  be  Ralph  now,  for 
all  of  us,  so  my  uncle  says.' 

'Is  that  so?'  said  Lancelot,  looking  up  at  the 
Captain.  'Well,  we  must  obey  orders,  and  indeed  I 
would  rather  have  Ralph  than  Raphael.  'Tis  less 
of  an  outlandish  name.' 

Then  we  all  laughed,  and  we  all  came  back  into 
the  hall  of  the  inn  together. 

I  watched  Lancelot  with  wonder  and  with  pride. 
He  had  grown  amazingly  in  the  years  since  I  had 
seen  him,  and  carried  himself  like  a  man.  He  was 
handsomer  than  ever  I  thought,  and  liker  to  our 
island's  patron  saint.  As  he  stripped  off  his  travel- 
ling coat  and  stood  up  in  the  neat  habit  of  a  well-to- 
do  town  gentleman,  he  looked  such  a  cavalier  as  no 
woman  but  would  wish  for  a  lover,  no  man  but  de- 
sire for  a  friend. 

'Lads  and  lass,'  said  Captain  Amber,  'it  will 
soon  be  time  to  dine.  We  have  waited  dinner  for 
this  scapegrace' — and  he  pinched  Lancelot's  ear — 
'so  get  the  dust  of  travel  off  as  quickly  as  may  be, 
and  we  will  sit  down  with  good  appetite.' 

At  these  words  I  made  to  go  away,  for  I  did  not 
85 


MARJORIE 

dream  that  I  was  to  be  of  the  party;  but  the  Cap- 
tain, seeing  my  action,  caught  me  by  the  arm. 

'Nay,  Ralph,'  he  said,  'you  must  stay  and  dine 
with  us.  You  are  one  of  us  now,  and  Lancelot 
must  not  lose  you  on  this  first  day  of  fair  meeting.' 

I  was  indeed  glad  to  accept,  for  Lancelot's  sake. 
But  there  was  another  reason  in  my  heart  which 
made  me  glad  also,  and  that  reason  was  that  I 
should  see  the  girl  again  who  was  my  Captain's 
darling,  the  sister  whom  Lancelot  had  kissed. 

So  I  said  that  I  would  come  gladly,  if  so  be  that 
I  had  time  to  run  home  and  tell  my  mother,  lest  she 
might  be  keeping  dinner  for  me. 

'That's  right,  lad,  that's  right.  Ever  think  of 
the  feelings  of  others.' 

My  Captain  was  always  full  of  moral  counsels 
and  maxims  of  good  conduct,  but  they  came  from 
him  as  naturally  as  his  breath,  and  his  own  life  was 
so  honourable  that  there  was  nothing  sanctimonious 
in  his  way  or  his  words. 

As  I  was  about  to  start  he  begged  me  to  assure 
my  mother  that  if  she  would  join  them  at  table  he 
would  consider  it  an  honour.  I  thanked  him  with 
tears  in  my  eyes,  and  saluting  them  all  I  left  the 
inn  quickly,  with  the  last  sweet  smile  of  that  girl's 
burning  in  my  memory. 

86 


CHAPTER    XI 

A    FEAST  OF  THE   GODS 

I  SPED  through  the  streets  to  our  house  as  swiftly, 
I  am  sure,  as  that  ancient  messenger  of  the  Pagan 
gods — he  that  had  the  wings  tied  to  his  feet  that  he 
might  travel  the  faster.  My  dear  mother  was  re- 
joiced at  the  Captain's  kindness,  but  she  would  by 
no  means  hear  of  coming  with  me.  She  bade  me 
return  with  speed,  that  I  might  not  keep  the  com- 
pany waiting,  and  to  thank  the  Captain  for  her 
with  all  my  heart  for  his  kindness  and  condescen- 
sion. 

When  I  got  back  to  the  Noble  Rose  I  found 
our  litttle  company  all  assembled  in  the  Dolphin. 
No  one  stayed  my  entrance  this  time,  for  though 
the  same  fellow  that  I  had  tussled  with  before  saw 
me  enter  he  made  no  objection  this  time,  and  even 
saluted  me  in  a  loutish  manner;  for  I  was  the  Cap- 
tain's friend,  and  as  such  claimed  respect. 

Lancelot  was  leaning  against  the  mantelpiece, 
and  Marjorie  and  my  Captain  were  sitting  by  ply- 

87 


MARJORIE 

ing  him  with  questions  and  listening  eagerly  to  his 
answers.  Lancelot  had  drawn  off  his  travelling 
boots  and  spruced  himself,  and  looked  a  comely 
fellow.  When  I  entered  he  broke  off  in  what  he 
was  saying  to  clasp  my  hand  again,  while  the  Cap- 
tain rang  for  dinner,  expressing  as  he  did  so  the 
civilest  regrets  at  my  mother's  absence.  Then  we 
all  sat  to  table  and  dined  together  in  the  pleasantest 
good-fellowship. 

Never  shall  I  forget  that  dinner,  not  if  I  live  to 
be  a  hundred — which  is  not  unlikely,  for  I  come  of  a 
long-lived  race  by  my  mother's  side,  and  winds  and 
waters  have  so  toughened  me  that  I  ought  to  lasl; 
with  the  best  of  my  ancestors.  There  was  a  Latin 
tag  Mr.  Davies  used  to  tease  me  with  about  the 
Feasts  of  the  Gods.  Feasts  of  the  Gods,  forsooth ! 
They  could  not  compare,  I'll  dare  wager,  with  that 
repast  in  the  Dolphin  Room  of  the  Noble  Rose,  on 
that  crisp  spring  day  when  I  and  the  world  were 
younger. 

I  might  well  be  excused,  a  raw  provincial  lad,  if 
I  did  feel  shyish  in  the  presence  of  such  gentlefolk. 
But  they  were  such  true  gentlefolk  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  long  not  to  feel  at  ease  in  their  society. 
So  when  I  learnt  that  Lancelot  had  not  changed 
one  whit  in  his  love  for  me,  and  when  I  found  that 

88 


'HE  BROKE  OFF  ix  WHAT  HE  WAS  SAYING  TO  CLASP  MY  HAND. 


A   FEAST   OF  THE   GODS 

not  the  Captain  alone,  but  his  beautiful  niece  too, 
did  everything  to  make  me  feel  happy  and  at  home 
— why,  it  would  have  been  churlish  of  me  not  to 
have  aided  their  gentleness  by  making  myself  as 
agreeable  as  might  be. 

The  Captain  had  so  much  to  say  of  his  scheme 
or  dream,  and  we  were  so  content  to  listen  like 
good  children,  that  we  did  not  rise  from  table  till 
nigh  three  o'clock.  It  was  such  a  happy  dream, 
and  so  feelingly  depicted  by  the  Captain,  that  it 
never  occurred  to  me  for  a  moment  to  doubt  in  any 
wise  its  feasibility,  or  to  feel  aught  but  sure  that 
I  was  engaged  in  the  greatest  undertaking  wherein 
man  had  ever  shared.  When  we  did  part  at  last, 
on  the  understanding  that  I  was  to  attend  upon  the 
Captain  daily,  I  shook  hands  with  Marjorie  as  with 
an  old  friend.  I  was  for  shaking  hands  with  Lance- 
lot, too,  but  he  would  not  hear  of  it.  He  would 
walk  home  with  me,  he  said ;  he  could  not  lose  me 
so  soon  after  finding  me  again.  So  we  issued  out 
of  the  Noble  Rose  together,  arm-in-arm,  in  very 
happy  mind. 

We  walked  for  a  few  paces  in  silence,  the  sweet 
silence  that  often  falls  upon  long-parted  friends 
when  their  hearts  are  too  full  for  parley.  Then 
Lancelot  asked  me  suddenly  'Is  she  not  wonderful?' 

89 


MARJORIE 

and  I  could  answer  no  more  than  'indeed,'  for-  she 
seemed  to  me  the  most  wonderful  creature  the 
world  had  ever  seen,  which  opinion  I  entertain  and 
cherish  to  this  very  day  and  hour. 

'Is  she  not  better  than  her  picture  in  little?'  he 
questioned,  and  again  I  had  no  more  to  say  than 
'indeed,'  though  I  would  have  liked  to  find  other 
words  for  my  thoughts.  By  this  time  we  had  come 
to  the  way  where  I  should  turn  to  my  home,  but  here 
Lancelot  would  needs  have  it  that  we  should  go 
and  visit  Mr.  Davies's  shop  in  the  High  Street. 
I  must  say  that  this  resolve  somewhat  smote  my 
conscience,  for  it  was  many  a  long  day  since  I  had 
crossed  Mr.  Davies's  threshold;  but  I  would  not 
say  Lancelot  nay,  and  so  we  went  our  ways  to  the 
High  Street  and  Mr.  Davies's  shop.  And  indeed 
I  am  glad  we  did  so. 


90 


CHAPTER   XII 

MR.    DAVIES'S    GIFTS 

MR.  DAVIES  did  not  seem  at  all  surprised  to  see 
us  when  we  entered,  and  he  turned  round  and  faced 
us. 

The  poor  little  man  had  lived  so  long  among  his 
musty  books  that  the  real  world  had  become  as  it 
rvere  a  kind  of  dream  to  him,  wherein  people  came 
\ike  shadows  and  people  went  like  shadows,  and 
tvhere  still  the  battered  battalions  of  his  books 
abided  with  him. 

But  he  seemed  very  well  pleased  to  see  us,  and 
shook  us  both  warmly  by  the  hands  and  called  us 
by  our  right  names,  without  confounding  either  of 
us  with  the  other,  and  had  us  into  his  little  back 
parlour  and  pressed  strong  waters  upon  us,  all  very 
hospitably. 

Of  the  strong  waters  Lancelot  and  I  would  have 
none,  for  in  those  days  I  never  touched  them,  nor 
did  Lancelot.  I  never  drank  aught  headier  than 
ale  in  the  time  when  I  used  to  frequent  the  Skull 


MARJORIE 

and  Spectacles,  and  as  for  Lancelot,  who  was  a 
gentleman  born  and  used  to  French  wines,  he  had 
no  relish  for  more  ardent  liquors.  Then  he  begged 
we  would  have  a  dish  of  tea,  of  which  he  had  been 
given  a  little  present,  he  said,  of  late;  and  as  it 
would  have  cut  him  to  the  heart  if  we  had  refused 
all  his  proffers,  we  sat  while  he  bustled  about  at  his 
brew,  and  then  we  all  sipped  the  hot  stuff  out  of 
porcelain  cups  and  chatted  away  as  if  the  world  had 
grown  younger. 

Mr.  Davies  was  full  of  curiosity  about  our 
departure  and  the  Captain's  purpose,  and  did 
not  weary  of  putting  questions  to  us,  or  rather 
to  Lancelot,  for  he  soon  found  that  I  knew  but 
little  of  our  business  beyond  the  name  of  the 
ship.  To  be  sure,  I  do  not  think  that  Lancelot 
really  knew  much  more  about  it  than  I  did,  but 
he  could  talk  as  I  never  could  talk,  and  he  made 
it  all  seem  mighty  grand  and  venturesome  and 
heroic  to  the  little  bookseller. 

When  we  rose  Mr.  Davies  rose  with  us  and  fol- 
lowed us  into  the  shop,  when  he  insisted  that  each 
of  us  should  have  a  book  for  a  keepsake.  He 
groped  along  his  shelves,  and  after  a  little  while 
turned  to  us  with  a  couple  of  volumes  under  his 
arm. 

92 


MR.   DAVIES'S  GIFTS 

Mr.  Davies  addressed  Lancelot  very  gravely  as 
he  handed  him  one  of  the  volumes. 

'Master  Lancelot,'  he  said,  'in  giving  you  that 
book  I  bestow  upon  you  what  is  worth  more  than 
a  king's  ransom — yea,  more  than  gold  of  Ophir 
and  peacocks  and  ivory  from  Tarshish,  and  pearls 
of  Tyre  and  purple  of  Sidon.    It  is  John  Florio's 
rendering  of  the  Essays  of  Michael  of  Mon- 
taigne, and  there  is  no  better  book  in  the  world, 
of  the  books  that  men  have  made  for  men,  the 
books  that  have  no  breath  of  the  speech  of  an- 
gels in  them.    Here  may  a  man  learn  to  be  brave, 
equable,  temperate,  patient,  to  look  life — aye, 
and  the  end  of  life — squarely  in  the  face,  to 
make  the  most  and  best  of  his  earthly  portion. 
Take  it,  Master  Lancelot ;  it  is  the  good  book 
of  a  good  and  wise  gentleman,  and  in  days  long 
off,  when  I  am  no  more,  you  may  remember  my 
name  because  of  this  my  gift  and  be  grateful.' 
Then  he  turned  to  me  and  handed  me  the  other 
book  that  he  had  been  hugging  under  his  arm. 

'For  you,  my  dear  young  friend,'  he  said,  'I  have 
chosen  a  work  of  another  temper.  You  have  no 
bookish  habit,  but  you  have  a  gallant  spirit,  and  so 
I  will  give  you  a  gallant  book.* 

He  opened  the  volume,  which  was  a  quarto,  and 
93 


MARJORIE 

read  from  its  title-page  in  his  thin,  piping  voice, 
that  always  reminded  me  somewhat  of  his  own  old 
bullfinch. 

'A  New,  Short,  and  Easy  Method  of  Fencing; 
or,  the  Art  of  the  Broad  and  Small  Sword,  Rectified 
and  Compendiz'd,  wherein  the  practice  of  these  two 
weapons  is  reduced  to  so  few  and  general  Rules  that 
any  Person  of  indifferent  Capacity  and  ordinary 
Agility  of  Body  may  in  a  very  short  time  attain  to 
not  only  a  sufficient  Knowledge  of  the  Theory  of 
this  art,  but  also  to  a  considerable  adroitness  in 
practice,  either  for  the  Defence  of  his  life  upon  a 
just  occasion,  or  preservation  of  his  Reputation  and 
Honour  in  any  Accidental  Scuffle  or  Trifling  Quar- 
rel. By  Sir  William  Hope  of  Balcomie,  Baronet, 
late  Deputy-Governor  of  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh.' 

I  should  not  have  carried  such  a  string  of  words 
in  my  memory  merely  from  hearing  Mr.  Davies 
say  them  over  once.  But  they  and  the  book  they 
spoke  of  became  very  familiar  to  me  afterwards, 
and  I  know  it  and  its  title  by  root  of  heart. 

Lancelot  thanked  him  for  us  both  in  well-chosen 
words,  such  as  I  should  never  have  found  if  I  had 
cudgelled  my  brains  for  a  fortnight. 

Then  we  wrung  Mr.  Davies's  hands  again,  and 
he  wished  us  God-speed,  and  we  came  out  again 

94 


MR.   DAVIES'S   GIFTS 

into  the  open  street,  where  the  day  had  now  well 
darkened  down. 

As  we  walked  along  the  High  Street  with  our 
books  under  our  arms  Lancelot  gave  me  many  par- 
ticulars concerning  his  uncle's  scheme  and  his  means 
for  furthering  it. 

It  would  appear  that  Captain  Marmaduke  had 
for  some  time  cherished  the  notion  of  an  ideal 
colony.  The  thought  came  originally  into  his 
head,  so  Lancelot  fancied,  from  his  study  of  such 
books  as  the  'Republic'  of  Plato  and  the  'Utopia' 
of  Sir  Thomas  More,  works  I  had  then  never  heard 
of,  and  have  found  no  occasion  since  that  time  to 
study.  But,  as  I  gathered  from  Lancelot,  they 
were  volumes  that  treated  of  ideal  common- 
wealths. 

Captain  Amber's  first  idea,  it  appeared,  was  to 
establish  his  little  following  in  one  of  His  Majesty's 
American  colonies.  But  while  he  was  in  the  Low 
Countries  he  had  heard  much  of  those  new  lands 
at  the  end  of  the  world,  wherein  the  Dutch  are  so 
much  interested,  and  it  seems  that  the  Dutch  Gov- 
ernment, in  gratitude  to  him  for  some  services 
rendered,  were  willing  to  make  him  a  concession 
of  land  wherein  to  try  his  venture.  At  least  I  think, 
as  well  as  I  can  remember,  that  this  was  so ;  I  know 

95 


MARJORIE 

that  somehow  or  other  the  Dutch  Government  was 
mixed  up  in  the  matter. 

What  further  resolved  Captain  Amber  to  go  so 
far  afield  was,  it  seems,  the  friendship  he  had 
formed  while  at  Leyden  with  Cornelys  Jensen. 
This  Jensen  was  a  fellow  of  mixed  parentage,  a 
Dutch  father  and  an  English  mother,  who  had 
followed  the  sea  all  his  life,  and  knew,  it  seemed, 
very  intimately  those  parts  of  the  world  whereto 
Captain  Amber's  thoughts  were  turned. 

Jensen  was  such  a  plausible  fellow,  and  professed 
to  be  so  enraptured  with  Captain  Amber's  enter- 
prise, that  the  Captain's  heart  was  quite  won  by  the 
fellow,  and  from  that  time  out  he  and  Cornelys  Jen- 
sen were  hand  and  glove  together  in  the  matter. 
Very  valuable  Jensen  proved,  according  to  the  Cap- 
tain; full  of  experience,  expeditious,  and  a  rare 
hand  at  the  picking  up  of  stout  fellows  for  a  crew. 
I  found  that  Lancelot  did  not  hold  him  in  such 
high  regard  as  his  uncle  did,  but  that  out  of  respect 
for  Captain  Amber's  judgment  he  held  his  peace. 

As  for  the  Captain's  brother  Nathaniel,  his 
whole  share  in  the  enterprise  consisted  in  the  ad- 
vancing of  moneys,  on  those  ungentle  terms  I  have 
recorded,  upon  the  broad  lands  and  valuables  which 
made  my  Captain  a  man  of  much  worldly  gear, 

96 


MR.   DAVIES'S  GIFTS 

Lancelot  brought  me  to  my  door,  we  still  talking 
of  this  and  of  that. 

Lancelot  came  within  for  a  little  while  and 
kissed  my  mother,  who  hung  on  his  neck  for  a  mo- 
ment and  then  cried  a  little  softly,  while  Lancelot 
spoke  to  her  with  those  words  of  grave  encourage- 
ment which  seemed  beyond  his  years.  Then  he 
wished  us  good-night,  and  I  saw  him  to  the  door, 
and  stood  watching  his  tall  form  stepping  briskly 
up  the  street  in  the  clear  starlight 

The  girl  I  spoke  of  but  now,  she  in  the  play-book 
who  lived  like  a  man  in  the  greenwood,  says — or 
bears  witness  that  another  said — that  none  ever 
loved  who  loved  not  at  first  sight.  This  was  true 
in  my  case.  For  that  unhappy  business  with  the 
girl  Barbara,  though  it  was  love  sure  enough,  was 
not  such  gracious  love  as  that  day  entered  into  me 
and  has  ever  since  dwelt  with  me. 

Of  course  I  had  much  to  tell  my  mother  and  she 
listened,  as  interested  as  a  child  in  a  fairy  tale  to  all 
that  had  been  said  and  done  in  the  Noble  Rose. 
But  most  of  all  she  seemed  surprised  to  hear  that 
a  girl  was  going  to  sea  with  us.  She  questioned 
me  suddenly  when  I  had  made  an  end  of  my  story : 

'What  do  you  think  of  this  maid  Marjorie, 
Raphael?' 

97 


MARJORIE 

I  felt  at  the  mention  of  her  name  that  the  blood 
ran  red  in  my  face  and  I  was  glad  to  think  that  the 
light  in  the  room  was  not  bright  enough  to  betray 
me,  for  I  felt  shy  and  angry  at  my  shyness  and 
knew  that  my  cheeks  flamed  for  both  reasons.  But 
I  tried  to  say  unconcernedly  that  truly  Captain 
Amber  was  much  blessed  in  such  a  niece  and  Lance- 
lot in  such  a  sister.  Yet  while  I  answered  I  felt  both 
hot  and  cold,  as  I  have  felt  since  with  the  ague  in 
the  Spanish  Islands. 

We  spoke  no  more  of  Marjorie  that  evening  but 
at  night  I  lay  long  hours  awake  thinking  of  her, 
and  when  at  last  I  fell  asleep  I  slipped  into  dreams 
of  her,  with  her  yellow  hair,  and  the  yellow  flowers 
in  her  girdle  and  the  kindness  of  Heaven  in  her 
steadfast  eyes. 

There  are  many  kinds  of  love  in  the  world,  as 
there  are  many  kinds  of  men  and  many  kinds  of 
women,  but  my  love  for  Marjorie  Amber  was  of  the 
best  kind  that  a  man  can  feel,  and  it  made  a  man  of 
me. 

I  have  lived  a  wild  life  and  a  vagrant  life,  I 
know ;  but,  anyway,  my  way  of  life  has  been  a  clean 
way.  I  have  never  been  a  brawler  nor  a  sot,  and 
I  have  never  struck  a  man  to  his  hurt  unless  when 
peril  forced  me.  I  have  never  fought  in  wanton- 

98 


MR.   DAVIES'S  GIFTS 

ness  or  bad  blood,  but  only  out  of  some  necessity 
that  would  not  be  said  nay  to.  And,  indeed,  there 
have  been  times  when  I  have  let  a  man  live  to  my 
own  risk.  So  I  hope  when  my  ghost  meets  else- 
where with  the  ghosts  of  my  enemies  that  they  will 
offer  me  their  shadowy  fingers  in  proof  that  they 
bear  me  no  malice  and  are  aware  that  all  was  done 
according  to  honourable  warfare.  There  is  the 
blood  of  no  vindictive  death  upon  my  fingers.  What 
blood  there  is  was  blood  spilt  honestly,  in  a  gentle- 
manly way,  in  a  soldierly  way;  and  there  is  a 
blessed  Blood  that  will  cleanse  me  of  its  stain. 

That  I  can  make  this  boast  I  owe  in  all  thankful- 
ness to  two  women.  To  my  mother  first,  and  then 
to  the  girl  who  came  to  me  at  the  very  turn  of  my 
life.  If  I  can  say  truthfully  that  year  in  and  year 
out  my  life  has  been  a  fairly  creditable  one  for  a 
man  that  has  followed  fortune  by  sea  and  by  land 
the  Recording  Angel  must  even  set  it  down  to  the 
credit  of  Marjorie. 


99 


CHAPTER   XIII 

TO   THE    SEA 

FROM  that  out  the  days  ran  by  with  a  marvellous 
swiftness.  There  was  much  to  do  daily;  in  my 
humble  way  I  had  to  get  my  sea-gear  ready,  which 
kept  my  dear  mother  busy;  and  every  day  I  was 
with  Captain  Marmaduke  and  Lancelot  and  Mar- 
jorie,  and  every  day  we  all  worked  hard  to  get 
ready  for  the  great  voyage  and  to  bring  our  odd 
brotherhood  together. 

It  certainly  was  a  strange  fellowship  which  Cap- 
tain Amber  had  gathered  together  to  sail  the  seas 
in  the  Royal  Christopher. 

Most  of  them  were  quiet  folk  of  the  farming 
favour,  well  set  up,  earnest,  with  patient  faces. 
There  were  men  who  had  been  old  soldiers ;  there 
were  men  who  had  served  with  Captain  Amber. 
These  were  to  be  the  backbone  of  his  colony.  Some 
brought  wives,  some  sisters ;  altogether  we  had  our 
share  of  women  on  board,  about  a  dozen  in  all,  in- 
cluding the  woman  whose  care  it  was  to  wait  upon 
the  Captain's  niece. 

100 


TO  THE   SEA 

But  I  did  not  see  a  great  deal  of  them,  for  they 
lay  aft,  and  it  was  my  Captain's  pleasure  that  I 
should  dwell  in  his  part  of  the  ship ;  and  he  him- 
self, though  he  carried  them  to  a  new  world  and  to 
warmer  stars,  did  not  mingle  much  with  them  on 
shipboard.  For  my  Captain  had  his  notion  of  rank 
and  place,  as  a  man-at-arms  should  have.  He 
passed  his  wont  in  admitting  me  to  his  intimacy, 
and  that  was  for  Lancelot's  sake. 

As  for  the  hands,  the  finding  of  them  had  been, 
it  would  seem,  chiefly  entrusted  to  the  hands  of  Cor- 
nelys  Jensen.  I  saw  nothing  of  them  until  the  day 
we  sailed.  What  I  saw  of  them  then  gave  me  no 
great  pleasure,  for  several  reasons.  Many  of  them 
were  fine-looking  fellows  enough.  All  were  stal- 
wart, sea-tested,  skilled  at  their  work;  most  seemed 
jovial  of  blood  and  ready  to  tackle  their  work 
cheerily.  Some  of  them  were  known  to  me  by  sight 
and  even  by  name,  for  Cornelys  Jensen  had  culled 
them  from  the  sea-dogs  and  sea-devils  who  drank 
and  diced  at  the  Skull  and  Spectacles.  That  was 
not  much ;  many  good  seamen  were  familiars  of  the 
Skull  and  Spectacles.  But  what  I  misliked  in  them 
was  the  regard  they  seemed  to  pay  to  the  deeds  and 
words  of  Cornelys  Jensen.  It  was  but  natural, 
indeed,  that  they  should  pay  him  regard,  seeing  that 

101 


MARJORIE 

he  was  the  second  in  command  after  Captain  Am- 
ber. But  it  seemed  to  me  then,  or  perhaps  I 
imagine — judging  by  the  light  of  later  times — 
that  it  seemed  to  me  then  that  their  behaviour 
showed  that  they  looked  upon  Jensen  rather  than 
my  Captain  as  the  centre  of  authority  in  the  ship. 
Certainly  most  of  them  were  more  of  the  kidney  of 
Cornelys  Jensen  than  of  Marmaduke  Amber. 

I  ventured  to  break  something  of  my  thought  to 
Captain  Amber,  but  he  laughed  at  me  for  my  pains, 
saying  that  Jensen  was  a  proper  man  and  very  trust- 
worthy, and  a  man  with  a  better  eye  for  a  good  sea- 
man than  any  other  man  in  the  kingdom.  So  I  had 
no  more  to  say,  and  Cornelys  Jensen  went  his  own 
way  and  collected  his  own  following  unhindered. 

Whatever  I  might  think  of  the  crew,  there  was 
but  one  thought  for  the  ship.  A  finer  than  the 
Royal  Christopher  at  that  time  I  had  never  seen  of 
her  kind  and  size.  She  was  a  large  ship  of  the 
corvette  kind,  with  something  of  the  carack  and 
something  of  the  polacca  about  her.  We  boast 
greatly  of  our  progress  in  the  art  of  putting  tall 
ships  together,  and,  if  we  go  on  at  the  rate  at  which, 
according  to  some  among  us,  we  are  going,  Heaven 
only  knows  where  it  will  end,  or  with  what  kind  of 
marine  monsters  we  shall  people  the  great  deep. 

102 


TO  THE  SEA 

But  I  cannot  think  that  we  have  done  or  ever  shall 
do  much  better  in  shipbuilding  than  we  did  in  the 
days  when  I  was  young. 

The  hands  of  the  clock  wheeled  in  their  circle, 
and  the  day  came  when  all  was  ready  and  we  were 
to  sail. 

I  was  leaning  over  the  side,  looking  at  the  downs 
and  the  town  where  I  had  lived  all  my  life,  and 
which,  perhaps,  I  might  never  see  again.  My 
mother  was  by  my  side,  and  we  were  talking  to- 
gether as  people  talk  who  love  each  other  when  a 
parting  is  at  hand.  All  of  a  sudden  I  became  aware 
of  a  boat  that  was  pulling  across  the  water  in  the 
direction  of  our  ship.  It  contained  a  man  and  a 
woman,  and  when  it  came  alongside  I  saw  who  the 
man  and  the  woman  were,  and  saw  that  they  were 
known  to  me;  and  for  a  moment  my  heart  stood 
still,  and  I  make  no  doubt  that  my  face  flushed  and 
paled.  For  the  woman  was  that  girl  Barbara  who 
had  made  the  Skull  and  Spectacles  so  dear  and  so 
dreadful  to  me,  and  the  man  was  that  red-bearded 
fellow  who  had  clipped  her  closely  in  his  arms  on 
the  day  when  I  went  there  for  the  last  time.  The 
man  who  was  rowing  the  boat  was  none  other  than 
the  landlord  of  the  Skull  and  Spectacles,  Barbara's 
uncle. 

103 


MARJORIE 

I  drew  back  before  they  had  noticed  me,  and  I 
drew  my  mother  away  with  me.  The  pair  came  on 
board,  but  I  kept  my  back  turned,  and  they  went  aft 
without  noting  me.  It  would  seem  as  if  Cornelys 
Jensen  had  been  but  waiting  for  them  to  set  sail, 
for  now  he  gave  the  order  that  all  should  leave  the 
ship  who  were  not  sailing  with  her.  Then  there 
was  such  sobbings  and  embracings  and  hand-clasp- 
ings  ere  the  relatives  and  friends  who  were  staying 
on  shore  got  down  the  side  into  the  craft  that  was 
waiting  for  them.  My  mother  and  I  parted  some- 
how, and  I  saw  her  safely  into  the  dinghy  which  I 
had  chartered  for  her  benefit,  handled  by  a  water- 
side fellow  whom  I  knew  well  for  a  steady  oar. 

Everything  then  seemed  to  happen  with  the 
quickness  of  a  dream.  One  moment  I  seemed  to  see 
her  sitting  in  the  stern  of  the  boat,  waving  her 
handkerchief  to  me;  then  next  there  came  a  rush 
of  tears,  that  blotted  out  everything,  my  mother 
and  the  town  and  all ;  the  next,  as  it  seemed  to  me, 
though  of  course  the  interval  was  longer,  we  were 
cutting  the  water  with  a  fair  wind,  and  the  downs 
and  the  cliffs  seemed  to  be  racing  away  from  us. 
The  Royal  Christopher  had  set  sail  for  its  haven  at 
the  other  end  of  the  world. 


104 


.CHAPTER   XIV 

THE    SEA    LIFE 

THE  fair  weather  with  which  we  were  favoured 
during  the  early  part  of  our  voyage  made  the  time 
very  delightful  and  very  instructive  to  me.  In- 
deed, I  learnt  more  during  those  happy  weeks  of 
matters  that  are  proper  for  a  man  to  know  than  I 
had  even  guessed  at  in  the  whole  course  of  my  life. 
For  the  Captain,  who  was  an  accomplished  swords- 
man, and  Lancelot,  who  was  a  promising  pupil, 
were  at  great  pains  to  teach  me  the  use  both  of  the 
small  sword  and  the  broadsword,  at  which  they  ex- 
ercised me  daily  upon  the  deck.  Captain  Amber 
had  a  great  regard  for  Sir  William  Hope  of  Bal- 
comie's  book,  wherein  I  made  my  daily  study,  and 
he  or  Lancelot  would  make  me  practise  all  that  I 
read. 

I  was  ever  apt  at  picking  up  all  things  wherein 
strength  and  skill  counted  for  more  than  book- 
learning,  and  I  am  glad  to  think  that  they  found  me 
an  apt  pupil.  Indeed,  before  we  had  got  half-way 
on  our  journey  I  was  almost  as  pretty  a  swordsman 

105 


MARJORIE 

as  Lancelot,  and  the  Captain  used  often  to  declare 
that  in  time  I  should  be  better  than  he  himself  was. 
But  this,  of  course,  he  said  only  to  encourage  me, 
for  indeed  I  think  I  have  never  seen  a  better  master 
of  his  weapon  than  Captain  Amber,  and  neither  I 
nor  Lancelot  ever  came  near  him  in  that  art. 

Captain  Amber  was  my  teacher  in  other  things 
than  swordcraft.  He  set  himself  with  a  patience 
that  knew  no  limit  to  make  me  learn  such  things  as 
are  useful  in  the  sea  life,  and  indeed  he  found  me 
an  apter  pupil  than  poor  Mr.  Davies  had  ever  been 
able  to  make  of  me.  He  was  himself  versed  in  the 
mathematical  sciences,  in  navigation,  in  astronomy, 
dialling,  gauging,  gunnery,  fortification,  the  use  of 
the  globes,  the  projection  of  the  sphere  upon  any 
circle,  and  many  another  matter  essential  for  the 
complete  sailor,  soldier,  or  navigator  and  advent- 
urer of  any  kind. 

He  instructed  me  further  in  matters  military,  for, 
as  he  said,  a  stout  man  should  be  able  to  serve  God 
and  his  King  as  well  by  land  as  by  sea.  So  he  put 
me  through  a  rare  course  of  martial  education,  dis- 
coursing to  me  very  learnedly  on  the  principles  of 
fortification  as  they  are  expounded  by  the  ingenious 
Monsieur  Vauban,  and  showing  me,  in  the  plans  of 
many  and  great  towns,  both  French  and  German, 

1 06 


THE  SEA  LIFE 

to  what  perfection  their  defence  may  be  carried. 
He  showed  me  how  to  handle  a  musket  and  a  pike, 
and  the  manage  of  the  half-pike  joined  to  the 
musket,  and  instructed  me  in  the  drilling  of  troops 
and  in  the  forming  of  a  brigade  after  the  Swedish 
method,  for  which  he  had  a  particular  affection. 

He  harangued  me  much  upon  the  uses  of  artil- 
lery, illustrating  what  he  said  by  the  example  of  the 
ship's  cannon,  until  I  felt  that  I  should  only  need 
a  little  practice  to  become  a  master  gunner.  And 
he  set  forth  to  me  by  precept — for  here  he  had  no 
chance  of  example — drill  of  cavalry  and  the  im- 
portance of  that  arm  in  war,  and  promised  me  that 
I  should  learn  to  ride  when  we  had  reached  our 
Arcadia. 

In  all  these  exercises  Lancelot,  whose  cabin  I 
shared,  took  his  part.  He  knew  so  much  more  than 
I  did  that  I  feel  very  sure  that  my  companionship 
in  these  studies  was  but  a  drag  upon  him.  Yet  he 
never  betrayed  the  least  impatience  with  me  or  with 
my  more  sluggish  method  of  acquiring  knowledge. 
Now,  as  always,  he  was  my  true  friend.  If  every 
day  taught  me  more  to  admire  Captain  Marma- 
duke,  every  day  bade  me  the  more  and  more  to 
congratulate  myself  upon  being  blessed  with  such  a 
comrade  as  Lancelot. 

107 


MARJORIE 

Nevertheless,  the  best  part  of  the  business  was  the 
presence  of  Marjorie.  She  was  a  true  child  of  the 
sea.  She  loved  it  as  if  she  had  been  such  a  mer- 
maiden  as  old  poets  fable.  She  had  sailed  with  her 
uncle  ever  since  she  was  a  little  girl.  She  was  as 
good  a  sailor  as  her  brother,  and  took  foul  weather 
as  gallantly  as  fair.  For  it  was  not  all  smooth  sail- 
ing, for  all  our  luck.  There  were  squalls  and  there 
were  storms;  but  the  Royal  Christopher  rode  the 
billows  bravely,  and  Marjorie  faced  the  storm  as 
fearlessly  as  the  oldest  hand  on  board. 

There  was  one  wild  night,  when  we  rose  and  fell 
in  a  fury  of  wind.  She  must  needs  be  on  deck,  so 
I  fastened  her  to  one  of  the  masts  with  a  rope  and 
held  on  next  to  her  while  we  watched  the  war  of 
the  elements.  The  rain  was  strong,  and  it  soaked 
all  the  clothes  on  her  body  to  a  pulp ;  and  her  long 
hair  floated  on  the  wind,  and  sometimes  flapped 
across  my  face  and  made  my  blood  tingle.  She 
stuck  to  her  post  like  a  man — or,  let  me  say  in  her 
honour,  like  a  woman — watching  the  strife,  and 
every  now  and  then  she  would  put  her  lips  close  to 
my  ear — for  the  screaming  of  the  wind  whistled 
away  all  words  that  were  not  so  spoken — and  would 
bid  me  note  some  wonder  of  sky  or  water.  For  by 
this  time  we  were  great  friends,  Marjorie  and  I,  and 

108 


THE  SEA  LIFE 

she  always  treated  me  as  if  I  were  some  kinsman  of 
her  house  instead  of  what  I  was,  a  poor  adventurer 
in  the  dawn  of  his  first  adventure.  She  liked  me  I 
knew  from  the  start  because  Lancelot  liked  me,  and 
because  she  trusted  in  Lancelot  with  the  same  im- 
plicit faith  that  he  addressed  to  her.  And  where 
she  liked  she  liked  wholly,  as  a  generous  man  might, 
giving  her  friendship  freely  in  the  firm  clasp  of  her 
hand,  in  the  keen,  even  greeting  of  her  eyes.  It 
was  a  strange  grace  for  me  to  share  in  that  wonder- 
ful fellowship  of  brother  and  sister,  and  I  joyed  in 
my  fortune  and  shut  my  mind  against  any  thought 
of  the  sorrow  that  might  come  to  me  from  such 
sweet  intercourse.  For  I  knew  from  the  first  as  I 
have  said  that  I  loved  her,  and  I  knew,  too,  that  it 
would  be  about  as  reasonable  to  fall  in  love  with  a 
star  or  a  dream.  Those  gentry  who  write  verses, 
find,  as  I  believe,  a  kind  of  bitter  satisfaction  in 
recording  their  pains  in  rhyme,  but  for  me  there 
was  no  such  solace.  Yet  on  that  driving  night,  in 
that  high  wind,  I  would  have  rejoiced  to  be  ap- 
prenticed to  the  poets'  guild  and  skilled  to  make 
some  use  that  might  please  her  of  the  dumb  thoughts 
that  troubled  me.  As  it  was  it  was  she  who  seemed 
to  speak  with  the  speech  of  angels  and  I  who  listened 
mumchance. 

109  " 


MARJORIE 

She  had  the  rarest  gifts  and  graces  for  gladden- 
ing our  voyage.  She  could  sing,  and  she  could  play 
a  guitarra  that  she  had  brought  from  Spain ;  and 
often  of  fair  evenings,  when  we  sat  out  on  the  deck, 
she  would  sing  to  us  ballads  in  Spanish  and  French, 
and  then  for  me,  who  was  unlettered,  she  would 
sing  old  English  ditties,  such  as  'Barbara  Allen' 
and  'When  first  I  saw  your  face,'  and  many  can- 
zonets from  out  of  Mr.  William  Shakespeare's 
plays,  which  she  always  held  in  high  esteem,  and  I 
would  sit  and  listen  in  a  rapture. 

Once,  a  long  while  after,  when  that  Spanish 
tongue  had  become  as  familiar  to  me  as  it  was  then 
unfamiliar,  I  remember  falling  into  a  brawl  with 
a  stout  fellow  in  Spain,  and  getting,  as  luck  would 
have  it,  the  better  of  the  business,  and  being  within 
half  a  mind  of  ramming  my  knife  into  his  throat; 
for  my  blood  was  up,  and  the  fellow  had  meant  to 
kill  me  if  he  had  had  the  chance.  But  even  as  I 
made  to  strike,  he,  looking  up  at  me,  and  as  cool  as 
if  I  were  doing  him  a  favour,  began  to  sing  very 
softly  to  himself  just  one  of  those  very  Spanish 
songs  that  Marjorie  used  to  sing  of  summer  even- 
ings on  the  deck  of  the  Royal  Christopher.  And 
as  he  sang  so,  waiting  death,  in  that  instant  all  my 
rage  vanished,  and  I  put  aside  my  weapon  and  held 

no 


THE  SEA  LIFE 

out  my  hand  to  him,  and  asked  his  forgiveness 
and  asked  his  friendship.  The  man  looked  amazed, 
as  well  he  might;  and  it  was  lucky  for  me  that  he 
did  not  seize  the  chance  to  stab  me  unawares.  But 
he  did  not,  and  we  shook  hands  and  parted,  and  he 
went  his  ways  never  witting  that  he  owed  his  life 
to  the  fairest  woman  in  the  whole  wide  world — at 
least,  that  I  have  ever  seen,  and  I  have  seen  many 
and  many  in  my  time. 

There  were  two  on  that  ship  with  whom  I  did 
not  wish  to  have  any  dealings,  namely,  Barbara  and 
the  red-bearded  man,  Hatchett  by  name,  who  was 
now  her  husband.  However,  I  saw  but  little  of 
them,  for  they  kept  to  their  own  part  of  the  ship. 

Barbara  knew  me  again,  of  course,  and  we  salut- 
ed each  other  when  we  met,  as  it  was  of  course  in- 
evitable that  we  should  meet  on  board  ship.  But 
we  did  not  meet  often,  and  I  was  glad  to  find  that  I 
felt  no  pang  when  the  rare  meetings  did  take  place. 
That  folly  had  wholly  gone.  There — I  have  writ- 
ten those  words,  but  I  have  no  sooner  written  than 
I  repent  them.  It  is  not  a  folly  for  a  boy  to  be 
honestly  in  love,  as  I  was  in  love  with  Barbara.  I 
was  silly,  if  you  please — a  moon-struck,  calf-loving 
idiot,  if  you  like — but  in  all  that  hot  noon  of  my 
madness  there  never  was  an  unclean  thought  in  my 

in 


MARJORIE 

mind  nor  an  unclean  prompting  of  the  body.  How- 
ever, all  that  was  past  and  done  with.  My  liver  was 
washed  clean  of  that  passion ;  it  had  not  left  a  spot 
upon  my  heart.  I  have  only  loved  two  women  in 
all  my  life,  and  when  the  second  love  came  into  my 
life  that  first  fancy  was  dead  and  buried,  and  no 
other  fancy  has  ever  for  a  moment  arisen  to  trouble 
my  happiness. 


112 


CHAPTER   XV 

UTOPIA    HOl 

I  HAVE  purposely  left  out  of  these  pages  the  record 
of  the  voyage.  One  such  voyage  is  much  like  an- 
other, and  though  it  was  all  new  to  me  it  would 
not  be  new  to  others.  I  might  like  to  dwell  again 
upon  the  first  land  we  made,  the  Island  of  St.  Jago, 
where  we  had  civil  entertainment  of  a  Portuguese 
gentleman  and  of  a  negro  Romish  priest,  with  a 
merry  heart  and  merry  heels.  My  mother  would 
have  loved  to  go  marketing  in  that  place,  for  I 
bought  no  less  than  one  hundred  sweet  oranges  for 
half  a  paper  of  pins,  and  five  fat  hens  for  the  other 
half  of  the  paper.  I  could  talk  of  our  becalms  and 
our  storms  and  our  crossing  the  Line,  and  of  our 
trouble  with  the  travado-wind.  But  as  I  do  not 
wish  to  weary  with  the  repetition  of  an  oft-told  tale, 
I  will  say  no  more  of  our  voyage  until  we  came  to 
the  Cape  which  is  so  happily  named  of  Good  Hope. 
It  was  a  very  wonderful  voyage  for  me ;  it  would 
not  seem  a  very  wonderful  voyage  to  others,  who 
have  either  made  it  themselves  or  who  know  out  of 

"3 


MARJORIE 

book  knowledge  all  and  more  than  all  that  I  could 
tell  them.  But  I  may  say  that  I  was  a  very  different 
lad  when  we  came  to  the  Cape  from  the  lad  who  had 
got  on  board  of  the  Royal  Christopher  so  many 
months  earlier.  I  was  but  a  pale-faced  boy  when 
I  sailed,  only  a  landsman,  and  no  great  figure  as  a 
landsman.  But  when  we  came  to  the  Cape  I  was 
so  coloured  by  the  winds  and  the  suns  and  the  open 
life  that  my  face  and  hands  were  well-nigh  of  the 
tint  of  burnished  copper.  I  had  always  been  a 
fairly  strong  lad ;  but  now  my  strength  was  multi- 
plied many  times,  and,  thanks  to  my  dear  master, 
my  skill  to  use  that  strength  was  marvellously  ad- 
vanced. Which  proved  to  be  of  infinite  service  to 
me  and  others  better  than  myself  by-and-by. 

We  stayed  some  little  time  at  Cape  Town ;  how 
long  now  I  do  not  closely  remember,  but,  as  I  think, 
a  matter  of  four  weeks  or  more.  For  the  Captain 
had  some  old  friends  amongst  the  Dutch  colony, 
and  there  were  certain  matters  of  revictualling  the 
ship  to  be  thought  of,  and  Lancelot  longed  for  a 
little  shooting  and  hunting.  For  my  part,  I  was  by 
no  means  loth  to  tread  the  soil  again,  for,  though 
I  love  the  sea  dearly,  I  have  no  hatred  for  firm  earth 
as  other  seamen  have,  but  look  upon  myself  as  a 
kind  of  amphibious  animal,  and  like  the  land  and 

"4 


UTOPIA   HO! 

the  water  impartially.  And  there  was  a  great  joy 
and  wonder  to  me  to  see  a  new  country  and  a  new 
town — I,  who  knew  of  no  other  town  than  Sen- 
dennis,  and  knew  no  more  of  London  than  of 
Grand  Cairo,  or  of  the  capital  of  the  Mogul.  I 
remember  that  we  stayed  some  days  under  the  roof 
of  a  leading  Dutch  merchant  of  the  place,  who  en- 
tertained us  very  handsomely,  and  that  his  brother, 
who  was  a  somewhat  younger  man  than  he,  and  who 
spoke  our  English  tongue  well,  took  Lancelot  and 
me  many  times  a-shooting  and  a-fishing,  and  that  we 
had  some  rare  and  savage  sport.  For  the  town  is 
but  a  small  one,  and  there  is  excellent  sport  to  be 
had  well-nigh  at  its  back  doors,  as  it  were.  I 
should  have  loved  dearly  to  have  wandered  inward 
far  inland  towards  the  great  mountains,  for  I  heard 
wonderful  tales,  both  from  the  Dutchmen  and  their 
black  men,  of  treasures  that  the  bowels  of  these 
mountains  were  said  to  hold.  Of  course  that  was 
out  of  the  question,  with  the  Royal  Christopher 
waiting  for  her  fate;  but  the  tales  fired  me  with 
memories  of  those  Eastern  tales  that  I  have  told  you 
of,  and  I  longed  to  out-rival  Master  Sindbad. 

I  cannot  conscientiously  affirm  that  I  was  sorry  to 
leave  Cape  Town,  and  the  wines  that  the  Dutch  set- 
tlers made,  and  the  amazing  Hottentots,  and  the 

115 


MARJORIE 

other  marvels  of  that  my  first  experience  of  strange 
distant  countries.  We  were  all  the  better  for  our 
rest,  Marjorie  and  Captain  Amber,  Lancelot,  the 
colonists,  the  crew,  and,  in  a  word,  all  our  fellow- 
ship. But  we  were  all  eager  to  be  on  the  way  again, 
for  very  different  reasons.  Captain  Amber,  because 
he  was  keen  to  place  his  foot  upon  his  Land  of 
Promise;  Lancelot,  because  he  wished  what  his 
uncle  wished;  Marjorie,  because  she  wished  to  be 
with  Lancelot;  I  myself,  much  out  of  eager,  rest- 
less curiosity  for  new  places  and  new  adventures. 
For  I  was  so  simple  in  those  days  that  the  mere 
crossing  of  the  seas  seemed  to  me  to  be  an  advent- 
ure, a  thing  that  I  came  later  to  regard  as  no  more 
adventurous  than  the  hiring  of  a  hackney-coach. 
But  in  my  heart  I  knew  that  the  main  reason  for  my 
bliss  in  boarding  the  Royal  Christopher  lay  in  the 
closer  intimacy  it  gave  me  with  maid  Marjorie.  In 
the  little  kingdom  of  the  ship,  where  all  in  a  sense 
were  friends  and  adventurers  together,  there  was 
less  than  on  land  to  remind  me  that  for  me  to  dream 
myself  her  lover  went  far  to  prove  me  lunatic.  So 
I  was  blithe  to  be  afloat  again.  As  for  Cornelys 
Jensen,  we  were  to  learn  soon  enough  in  what  direc- 
tion lay  his  pleasure  to  be  ploughing  the  high  seas 
again, 

116 


CHAPTER   XVI 

I   MAKE   A   DISCOVERY 

I  HAVE  been  brief  with  our  adventure  so  far,  be- 
cause it  only  began  to  be  adventurous  after  we 
had  left  the  Cape  leagues  behind  us.  Up  to  that 
time,  though  the  voyage  was  full  of  wonders  for 
me,  it  was  but  one  voyage  with  another  for  those 
who  use  the  sea.  But  when  the  adventure  did  begin 
it  began  briskly,  and  having  once  made  a  beginning 
it  did  not  make  an  end  for  long  enough,  nor  without 
great  changes  of  fortune.  Yet  it  began,  as  a  big 
business  often  does  begin,  in  a  very  little  matter. 
One  night,  somewhat  late,  Captain  Amber  wished 
for  a  word  with  Jensen.  Yet,  as  it  was  not  the 
Dutchman's  watch,  and  he  might  be  sleeping,  Cap- 
tain Amber  bade  me  go  to  his  cabin — for  Jensen, 
being  a  man  of  consideration  upon  the  ship,  had 
a  cabin  to  himself — to  see  if  he  were  stirring,  com- 
manding me,  however,  if  he  were  resting,  not  to 
arouse  him.  Jensen's  cabin  lay  amidships,  and  as 
I  proceeded  warily  because  of  the  Captain's  cau- 

117 


MARJORIE 

tion,  I  came  to  it  quietly  and  listened  at  the  door 
before  lifting  my  finger  to  knock.  As  I  did  so  I 
noticed  that  the  door  was  not  fastened.  Whoever 
had  drawn  it  to  had  not  latched  it,  and  it  lay  open 
just  a  chink,  through  which  a  line  of  light  showed 
from  within.  Thinking  that  if  I  peeped  through 
this  chink  I  might  learn  if  Jensen  were  astir  or  no, 
I  put  my  eye  to  it  and  saw  what  I  saw. 

The  cabin  was  not  a  very  large  one,  and  though 
the  lamp  that  swung  from  the  ceiling  gave  forth 
but  a  dim  light,  yet  it  was  enough  to  enable  me 
to  see  very  clearly  all  that  there  was  to  see.  At 
the  first  blush,  indeed,  there  seemed  to  be  nothing 
out  of  the  way  to  witness.  At  the  further  end 
of  the  cabin  two  men  were  sitting  at  a  table  to- 
gether, with  a  chart  before  them..  Nearer  to  me, 
and  in  front  of  the  men,  a  woman  stood,  and  held 
up  for  their  inspection  a  piece  of  needlework.  The 
two  men  were  Cornelys  Jensen  and  William 
Hatchett;  the  vroman  was  Barbara  Hatchett.  It 
might  have  made  a  very  pleasing  example  of 
domestic  peace  but  for  one  queer  fact,  which 
notably  altered  its  character. 

The  needlework  at  which  women  are  wont  to 
labour  is  nine  times  out  of  ten  white  work  or 
brightly-coloured  work.  Women  are  like  the  best 

118 


"HELD  UP  FOR  THEIR  INSPECTION  A  PIECE  OF  NEEDLEWORK." 


I   MAKE  A  DISCOVERY 

kind  of  birds,  and  love  snowy  plumage  or  feathers 
that  are  bravely  tinted.  But  the  work  with  which 
Barbara  Hatchett  was  occupied  was  neither  white 
nor  coloured,  but  black — the  deepest,  darkest  black. 
Now  there  was  no  cause  as  yet,  thank  Heaven !  for 
man  or  woman  to  mourn  on  board  of  the  Royal 
Christopher,  and  there  was  no  need  for  Mistress 
Barbara  to  deal  with  mourning.  So  I  marvelled, 
but  even  as  I  marvelled  I  noted,  as  she  shifted  her 
position  slightly  and  shook  out  the  black  stuff  over 
her  knees,  that  it  was  not  all  and  only  black.  There 
was  white  work  in  it  too,  a  kind  of  patch  or  pattern 
of  white  work  in  the  midst  which  I  could  not  make 
out,  for  the  stuff  was  still  bunched  up  in  the  woman's 
hands.  But  now,  as  I  watched,  I  saw  her  shake  it 
out  over  her  knees  for  the  others  to  view,  and  I 
saw  that  the  thing  she  displayed  was  a  large  square 
of  black  worsted,  and  that  in  the  centre  were  sewn 
some  pieces  of  white  material  into  a  very  curious 
semblance.  For  that  semblance  was  none  other 
than  the  likeness  of  a  grinning  human  skull,  with 
two  cross-bones  beneath  it — just  such  an  effigy  as 
I  had  seen  many  times  on  the  tombstones  in  the 
churchyard  at  Sendennis. 

It  was  not,  however,  of  the  tombstones  at  Sen- 
dennis that  I  thought  just  then.     No;   that  ugly 

119 


MARJORIE 

image  in  the  girl's  fingers  carried  my  fancy  back 
to  the  place  where  I  had  first  seen  her — to  the 
hostelry  of  the  Skull  and  Spectacles — and  I  fancied 
somehow,  I  scarce  knew  why,  that  the  work  of  Bar- 
bara's fingers  had  some  connection  with  her  father's 
inn.  Only  for  a  second  or  so  did  I  think  this,  but 
in  honest  truth  that  was  my  first,  my  immediate 
belief,  and  it  brought  me  no  thought  of  fear,  no 
thought  of  danger  with  it.  I  was  only  conscious 
of  wondering  vaguely  to  what  service  this  sad  piece 
of  handicraft  could  be  put,  when  suddenly,  in  a 
flash,  my  intelligence  took  fire,  and  I  knew  what 
was  intended;  and  I  felt  my  knees  give  way  and 
my  heart  stand  still  with  horror. 

The  thing  I  was  looking  at,  the  ill-favoured 
thing  that  was  hanging  from  my  old  love's  hand, 
was  none  other  than  a  flag  of  evil  omen — a  pirate's 
flag,  the  barbarous  piece  of  bunting  that  they  call 
the  Jolly  Roger.  There  could  be  no  doubt  of  that 
— no  doubt  whatever.  I  had  heard  of  that  flag  and 
read  of  it,  and  now  I  was  looking  at  it  with  my  own 
eyes ;  and  a  light  seemed  to  be  let  in  upon  my  mind, 
and  I  trembled  at  the  terror  it  brought  with  it. 
That  piece  of  handicraft  meant  murder;  meant 
outrage ;  meant  violence  of  all  kinds  to  those  that 
were  so  dear  to  me — to  those  who  were  all  uncon- 

120 


I  MAKE  A  DISCOVERY 

scious  of  their  imminent  doom.  For  I  was  as  sure 
now  as  if  those  three  had  told  it  to  me  with  their 
own  lips  that  I  had  come  upon  a  conspiracy. 

The  red-haired  ruffian  and  the  black-haired  ruf- 
fian were  in  a  tale  together;  their  purpose  was  to 
seize  the  poor  Royal  Christopher  that  sailed  on  so 
gentle  an  errand  and  make  her  a  pirate  ship,  with 
that  devil's  ensign  flying  at  her  forepeak.  My  soul 
sickened  in  my  body  at  the  thought  of  the  women- 
kind  at  the  mercy  of  these  desperadoes.  There  was 
one  name  ever  in  my  heart,  and  as  I  thought  of  that 
name  I  shivered  as  if  the  summer  night  had  sud- 
denly been  frozen.  I  believe  that  if  I  had  had  a 
brace  of  pistols  with  me  I  should  have  taken  my 
chance  of  sending  those  two  villains  out  of  the  world 
with  a  bullet  apiece,  so  clearly  did  their  malignity 
betray  itself  to  my  observation.  But  I  was  un- 
armed, and  even  if  I  had  been  I  might  have  missed 
my  aim — though  this  I  do  not  think  likely,  in  that 
narrow  place,  and  with  my  determination  steadying 
my  hand — and,  moreover,  I  had  no  notion  as  to 
how  many  of  the  ship's  crew  were  sworn  to  share  in 
the  villainy.  Besides,  I  have  never  killed  a  man  in 
cold  blood  in  my  life,  and  on  that  night  so  long  ago 
I  had  never  lifted  hand  and  weapon  against  any. 
man,  and  had  only  once  in  my  life  seen  blood  spilt 

121 


MARJORIE 

murderously.  But  I  stayed  there,  with  my  heart 
drumming  against  my  ribs  and  my  breath  coming 
in  gasps  that  seemed  to  me  to  shake  the  ship's  bulk, 
staring  hard  at  the  two  men  and  the  woman  with 
her  work. 

She  held  out  the  banner  at  arm's  length,  and 
looked  down  at  it  lovingly,  as  women  are  wont  to 
look  at  any  piece  of  needlework  that  they  have 
taken  pains  over  with  pleasure  in  the  pains.  I  had 
seen  women  smile  over  their  work  many  and  many  a 
time — good  women  that  have  worked  for  their 
kin,  mothers  that  have  laboured  to  fashion  some 
bit  of  body  gear  for  a  cherished  child — and  I  have 
always  thought  that  the  smile  upon  their  faces  was 
very  sweet  to  see.  But  in  this  case  there  was  the 
same  smile  upon  the  woman's  face  as  she  looked 
upon  her  unholy  handiwork,  and  there  was  some- 
thing terrible  in  the  contrast  between  that  look  of 
housewifely  satisfaction  and  the  job  upon  which  it 
was  bestowed.  Many  an  evil  sight  have  I  seen,  but 
never,  as  I  think,  anything  so  evil  as  this  sight  of 
that  beautiful  face  smiling  over  the  edge  of  that 
hideous  thing,  the  living  radiant  visage  above  that 
effigy  of  death.  The  black  flag  covered  her  like  a 
pall,  ominously. 

'Well,'  she  said,  'is  it  well  done?' 
122 


I   MAKE  A  DISCOVERY 

She  spoke  in  a  low  tone,  but  I  could  hear  what 
she  said  quite  well  where  I  crouched. 

Cornelys  Jensen  nodded  his  head  approvingly. 

The  red-bearded  man  spoke.  'Time  it  was  done, 
too,  and  that  we  should  be  setting  to  work.  I  am 
sick  of  this  waiting.' 

'Patience,  my  good  fellow,  patience,'  said  Cor- 
nelys Jensen.  'All  in  good  time.  Trust  Cornelys 
Jensen  to  know  the  time  to  act.  The  fiddle  is  tuned, 
friend.  I  shall  know  when  to  play  the  jig.' 

'My  feet  ache  for  the  dancing,'  the  red  beard 
growled.  Barbara  laughed;  dropping  her  hands, 
she  drew  the  black  flag  close  to  her,  so  that  it  fell 
all  in  folds  about  her  body  and  draped  her  from 
throat  to  toe.  Her  beauty  laughed  triumphantly 
at  the  pair  from  its  sable  setting. 

'Put  that  thing  away,'  said  Jensen.  'You  have 
done  your  work  bravely,  Mistress  Hatchett,  and 
Bill  may  be  well  proud  of  you.' 

He  clapped  his  hand  as  he  spoke  on  Red  Beard's 
shoulder,  and  the  fool's  face  flushed  with  pleasure. 

Barbara  laughed,  and  slowly  folded  the  flag  up 
square  by  square  into  a  small  compass.  Jensen  took 
it  from  her  when  she  had  finished  and  put  it  into  a 
locker,  which  he  closed  with  a  key  that  he  took  from 
his  pocket. 

123 


MARJORIE 

I  began  to  find  my  position  rather  perilous.  It 
was  high  time  for  me  to  take  my  departure,  before 
the  conspirators  became  aware  of  my  whereabouts. 
It  would  not  trouble  either  of  the  men  a  jot  to  ram 
a  knife  into  my  ribs  and  to  jerk  me  overboard  ere 
the  life  was  out  of  me.  And  then  what  would  be- 
come of  my  dear  ones,  and  of  all  the  honest  folk  on 
board,  with  no  one  to  warn  them  of  their  peril? 

I  drew  back  very  cautiously,  creeping  along  the 
passage  and  holding  my  breath,  stepping  as  gingerly 
as  a  cat  on  eggs,  for  fear  of  making  any  sound  that 
should  betray  me.  As  I  crept  along  I  kept  asking 
myself  what  I  was  to  do.  The  first  course  that 
came  to  my  mind  was  to  go  to  Captain  Marmaduke 
and  tell  him  of  what  I  had  seen.  But  then,  again, 
I  did  not  know,  and  he  did  not  know,  how  many 
there  were  of  crew  or  company  tarred  with  Jensen's 
brush,  and  I  asked  myself  whether  it  would  not 
first  be  more  prudent  to  consult  with  Lancelot.  For 
I  knew  that  with  Captain  Marmaduke  the  first 
thing  he  would  do  would  be  to  accuse  Jensen  to  his 
face,  without  taking  any  steps  to  countermine  him, 
and  then  we  should  have  the  hornets'  nest  about 
our  ears  with  a  vengeance. 

But  while  I  was  creeping  along  in  the  dark, 
straining  my  ears  for  every  sound  that  might  sug- 

124 


I   MAKE  A   DISCOVERY 

gest  that  Jensen  or  Hatchett  were  following  me, 
and  while  my  poor  mind  was  anxiously  debating 
as  to  the  course  I  ought  to  pursue,  that  came  to 
pass  which  settled  the  question  in  the  most  un- 
expected manner. 


125 


CHAPTER  XVII 

A  VISITATION 

MY  agitations  were  harshly  interrupted.  There 
came  a  crash  out  of  the  silence,  and  before  I  could 
even  ask  myself  what  it  meant  I  was  flung  forward 
and  my  legs  were  taken  from  under  me.  I  pitched 
on  to  a  coil  of  rope,  luckily  for  me,  or  I  might  have 
come  to  worse  hurt,  and  I  had  my  hands  extended, 
which  in  a  measure  broke  the  force  of  my  fall.  But 
I  rapped  my  head  smartly  against  the  wall  of  the 
passage — never  had  I  more  reason  in  my  life  to  be 
grateful  for  the  thickness  of  my  skull — and  for  a 
few  moments  I  lay  there  in  the  darkness,  dizzy — 
indeed,  almost  stunned — and  scarcely  realising  that 
there  was  the  most  horrible  grinding  noise  going 
on  beneath  me,  and  that  the  ship  seemed  to  be 
screaming  in  every  timber.  I  could  have  only  lain 
there  for  a  few  seconds,  for  no  human  clamour  had 
mingled  with  the  sound  of  the  ship's  agony  when  I 
staggered  to  my  feet.  My  head  was  aching  furi- 
ously, and  my  right  wrist  was  numb  from  the  fall, 
but  my  senses  had  now  come  back  to  me,  and  I  knew 

126 


A    VISITATION 

that  some  great  calamity  had  befallen  the  ship.  In 
desperation  I  pulled  myself  together  and  ran  with 
all  speed,  heedless  of  the  darkness,  to  the  end  of 
the  passage  where  the  ladder  was,  and  so  up  it  and 
on  to  the  deck. 

The  weather  was  fair,  and  a  moon  like  a  wheel 
made  everything  as  visible  as  if  it  were  daytime. 
The  decks  shone  silver  and  the  sky  was  as  blue 
as  I  have  ever  seen  it;  but  the  sea,  as  far  as  eye 
could  reach,  appeared  to  be  wholly  covered  with  a 
white  froth,  which  rose  and  fell  with  the  waves 
like  a  counterpane  of  lace  upon  a  sleeper.  All  that 
there  was  to  see  I  saw  in  a  single  glance ;  in  another 
second  the  deck  was  full  of  people. 

Captain  Marmaduke  came  on  deck  clad  only  in 
his  shirt  and  breeches,  and  Lancelot  was  by  his  side 
a  moment  after  in  like  habit.  At  first  the  sailors 
rushed  hither  and  thither  in  alarm  and  confusion, 
but  Cornelys  Jensen  brought  them  to  order  in  a 
few  moments,  while  Hatchett  and  half  a  dozen 
of  the  men  proceeded  to  reassure  the  passengers 
and  to  keep  them  from  crowding  on  to  the  deck. 
All  this  happened  in  shorter  time  than  I  can  take  to 
set  it  down,  and  yet  after  a  fashion,  too,  it  seemed 
endless. 

Captain  Marmaduke  rushed  up  to  the  watch  and 
127 


MARJORIE 

caught  him  by  the  shoulder.     'What  have  you 
done?'  he  said;  'you  have  lost  the  ship!' 

The  man  shook  himself  away  from  the  Captain's 

hand. 

'It  was  no  fault  of  mine,'  he  said  between  his 
teeth.  'I  took  all  the  care  I  could.  I  saw  all  this 
froth  at  a  distance,  and  I  asked  the  steersman  what 
it  was,  and  he  told  me  that  it  was  but  the  sea  show- 
ing white  under  the  light  of  the  moon.' 

Captain  Marmaduke  gave  a  little  groan  of  de- 
spair. 

'What  is  to  be  done?'  he  asked.     'Where  are 

we?' 

'God  only  knows  where  we  are,'  the  man  an- 
swered, still  in  that  sullen,  shamefaced  way.  'But 
for  sure  we  are  fast  upon  a  bank  that  I  never  heard 
tell  of  ere  this  night.' 

As  they  were  thus  talking,  and  all  around  were 
full  of  consternation,  I  saw  that  Marjorie  had  come 
up  from  below  and  was  standing  very  still  by  the 
companion  head.  She  had  flung  a  great  cloak  on 
over  her  night-rail,  and  though  her  face  was  pale 
in  the  moonlight  she  was  as  calm  as  if  she  were  in 
church.  When  I  came  nigh  her  she  asked  me,  in  a 
low,  firm  voice,  what  had  happened. 

I  told  her  all  that  I  knew— how  the  ship  had  by 
128 


J 


": 


HE  HAD  FI.UNG  A  GREAT  CLOAK  ON. 


A    VISITATION 

lischance  run  on  some  bank  through  the  white- 
less  of  the  moonlight  misleading  the  steersman. 
[With  another  woman,  maybe,  I  should  have  striven 
[to  make  as  light  as  possible  of  the  matter,  but  with 
Marjorie  I  knew  that  there  was  no  such  need.  I 
told  her  all  that  had  chanced  and  of  the  peril  we 
were  in,  as  I  should  have  done  to  a  man. 

When  I  had  done  speaking  she  said  very  quietly : 
'Is  there  any  hope  for  the  ship?' 

I  shook  my  head.  'I  am  very  much  afraid ' 

I  began. 

She  interrupted  me  with  a  little  sigh,  and  stepped 
forward  to  where  Captain  Marmaduke  stood  giv- 
ing his  orders  very  composedly.  Lancelot  was  busy 
with  Jensen  in  reassuring  the  women-folk  and  get- 
ting the  men-folk  into  order.  I  must  say  that  they 
all  behaved  very  well.  With  many  of  the  men,  old 
soldiers  and  sailors  as  they  were,  it  was  natural 
enough  to  carry  themselves  with  coolness  in  time 
of  peril,  but  the  women  showed  no  less  bravely. 
This,  indeed,  was  largely  due  to  the  example  set 
them  by  Barbara  Hatchett,  who  acted  all  through 
that  wild  hour  as  a  sailor's  daughter  and  a  sailor's 
wife  should  act.  Her  composure  and  her  loud, 
commanding  voice  and  encouraging  manner  did 
wonders  in  soothing  the  women-kind,  and  in  put- 

129 


MARJORIE 

ting  out  of  their  heads  the  foolish  thoughts  which 
lead  to  foolish  actions. 

Marjorie  went  up  to  Lancelot  and  laid  her  hand 
upon  his  sleeve.  He  looked  at  her  with  the  smile 
he  always  gave  when  he  greeted  her,  and  he  spoke 
to  her  as  he  might  have  spoken  if  he  and  she  had 
been  standing  together  on  the  downs  of  Sendennis 
instead  of  on  that  nameless  reef  in  that  nameless 
danger. 

'Well,  dear,'  he  said,  'what  is  it?' 

'What  do  you  wish  me  to  do  ?'  she  asked. 

'Comfort  the  women-folk,  dear,'  he  answered. 
Then,  catching  sight  as  the  wind  moved  her  cloak 
of  her  night-rail,  he  added  quickly :  'Run  down  and 
dress  first.' 

'Is  there  truly  time  ?' 

'Aye,  aye,  time  and  to  spare.  We  may  float  the 
ship  yet,  God  willing.  Do  as  I  bid  you.' 

She  lingered  for  a  moment,  and  said  softly: 

'If  anything  should  happen,  let  me  be  next  you 
at  the  last.' 

I  was  standing  near  enough  to  hear,  and  the 
tears  came  into  my  eyes.  Lancelot  caught  his  sis- 
ter's hand  and  pressed  it  as  he  would  have  pressed 
the  hand  of  a  comrade.  Then  she  turned  away  and 
slipped  silently  below. 

130 


A    VISITATION 

I  am  glad  to  remember  that  good  order  prevailed 
in  the  face  of  our  common  peril.  Our  colonists,  men 
and  women,  kept  very  quiet,  and  the  sailors,  under 
Cornelys  Jensen,  acted  with  untiring  zeal.  I  must 
say  to  his  credit  that  Jensen  proved  a  cool  hand  in 
the  midst  of  a  misfortune  which  must  have  come  as 
a  special  misfortune  to  himself.  It  is  a  curious  fact, 
and  I  know  not  how  to  account  for  it,  unless  by  the 
smart  knock  on  my  head  and  the  confusion  of 
events  that  followed  upon  it,  but  all  memory  of 
what  I  had  seen  and  heard  in  Jensen's  cabin  had 
slipped  from  my  mind.  No — I  will  not  say  all 
memory.  While  I  watched  him  working,  and  while 
I  worked  with  him,  my  head — which  still  ached 
sorely  after  my  tumble — was  troubled,  besides  its 
own  pain,  with  the  pain  of  groping  after  a  recol- 
lection. I  knew  that  there  was  something  in  my 
mind  which  concerned  Cornelys  Jensen,  something 
which  I  wanted  to  recall,  something  which  I  ought 
to  recall,  something  which  I  could  not  for  the  life 
of  me  recall.  What  with  my  fall,  and  the  danger 
to  the  ship,  and  the  strain  of  the  toil  to  meet  that 
danger,  that  page  of  my  memory  was  folded  over, 
and  I  could  not  turn  it  back.  I  have  heard  of  like 
cases  and  even  stranger;  of  men  forgetting  their 
own  names  and  very  identity  after  some  such  accir. 


MARJORIE 

dent  as  mine.  All  I  had  forgotten  was  the  evil 
scene  in  Jensen's  cabin,  the  three  evil  schemers,  their 
evil  flag. 

I  was  a  pretty  skilled  seaman  now,  thanks  to  my 
Captain's  patience  and  my  own  eagerness,  and  I 
was  able  to  lend  a  hand  at  the  work  with  the  best. 
The  first  thing  we  did  was  to  throw  the  lead,  and 
sorry  information  it  yielded  us.  For  we  found  that 
we  had  forty-eight  feet  of  water  before  the  vessel 
and  much  less  behind  her.  It  was  then  proposed 
that  we  should  throw  our  cannon  overboard,  in 
the  hope  that  when  our  ship  was  lightened  of  so 
much  heavy  metal  she  might  by  good  hap  be 
brought  to  float  again.  I  remember  as  well  as 
yesterday  the  face  of  Cornelys  Jensen  when  this 
determination  was  arrived  at.  He  saw  that  it 
must  be  done,  but  the  necessity  pricked  him  bitterly. 
'There's  no  help  for  it,'  he  said  aloud  to  Hatchett, 
with  a  sigh.  Captain  Marmaduke  took  the  expres- 
sion, as  I  afterwards  learnt,  as  one  of  pity  for  him 
and  his  ship  and  her  gear  of  war.  But  it  set  me 
racking  my  tired  brain  again  for  that  lost  knowl- 
edge about  Jensen  which  would  have  made  his 
meaning  plain  to  me. 

It  was  further  decided  to  let  fall  an  anchor,  but 
while  the  men  were  employed  upon  this  piece  of 

132 


A    VISITATION 

work  the  conditions  under  which  we  toiled  changed 
greatly  for  the  worse.  Black  clouds  came  creeping 
up  all  round  the  sky,  which  blotted  out  the  moon- 
light and  changed  all  that  white  foam  into  curdling 
ink,  and  with  the  coming  of  these  clouds  the  wind 
began  to  rise,  at  first  little  and  moaningly,  like  a 
child  in  pain,  and  then  suddenly  very  loudly  indeed, 
until  it  grew  to  a  great  storm,  that  brought  with  it 
sheets  of  the  most  merciless  rain  that  I  had  then 
ever  witnessed.  Now,  indeed,  we  were  in  dismal 
case,  wrapped  up  as  we  were  in  all  the  horrors  of 
darkness,  of  rain  and  of  wind,  which  added  not 
merely  a  gloom  to  our  situation,  but  vastly  increased 
danger.  For  our  ship,  surrounded  as  she  was  with 
rocks  and  shoals,  though  she  might  have  lain  quiet 
enough  while  the  sea  was  calm,  now  before  the 
fury  of  the  waves  kept  continually  striking,  and  I 
could  see  that  the  fear  of  every  man  was  that  she 
would  shortly  go  to  pieces. 


133 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

THE   NIGHT  AND   MORNING 

IT  seemed  such  a  heart-breaking  thing  to  be  hitched 
in  that  place,  so  immovable,  while  the  seas  were 
slapping  us  and  the  wind  so  foully  misbehaving, 
that  I  declare  I  could  have  wept  for  bitterness  of 
spirit.  But  it  was  no  time  for  weeping;  we  had 
other  guesswork  on  hand,  and  we  buckled  to  our 
work  with  a  will.  We  agreed  that  the  straightest 
course  open  to  us  was  to  cut  away  the  mainmast, 
and  this  we  promptly  set  about  doing.  There  are 
few  sadder  sights  in  the  world  than  to  see  stout  fel- 
lows striving  with  all  their  strength  to  hew  down 
the  mainmast  of  a  goodly  ship.  The  fall  of  a  great 
tree  in  a  forest  preaches  its  sermon,  but  not  with 
half  the  poignancy  of  a  noble  mast  which  men  who 
love  their  vessel  are  compelled  to  cast  overboard. 
As  the  axes  rose  and  fell  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  their 
every  stroke  dealt  me  a  hurt  at  the  heart.  As  the 
white  wood  flew  it  would  not  have  surprised  me 

134 


THE    NIGHT    AND    MORNING 

if  blood  had  followed  upon  the  blow — as  I  have 
read  the  like  concerning  a  tree  in  some  old  tale — 
so  dear  was  the  ship  to  me.  A  man's  first  ship  is 
like  a  man's  first  love,  and  grips  him  hard,  and  he 
parts  from  neither  without  agony.  When  at  last 
our  purpose  was  accomplished,  and  the  mast  swayed 
to  its  fall,  I  could  have  sat  me  down  and  blubbered 
like  a  baby. 

And  yet  in  another  moment,  so  strange  is  the 
ordering  of  human  affairs  and  so  much  irony  is 
there  in  the  lessons  of  life,  we  who  were  all  ready 
to  weep  for  the  loss  of  our  mainmast  would  have 
been  only  too  glad  to  say  good-bye  to  it.  For  while 
its  fall  augmented  the  shock,  and  made  us  in  worse 
case  that  way,  we  were  not  lightened  of  it  for  all 
our  pains,  for  it  was  so  entangled  with  the  rigging 
that  we  could  not  for  all  our  efforts  get  it  overboard. 
We  were  now  in  sheer  desperation,  for  it  did  not 
seem  as  if  we  could  ever  get  our  ship  free,  but  must 
needs  bide  there  in  our  agony  until  she  broke  and 
gave  us  all  to  the  waters.  But  a  little  after  there 
came  a  gleam  of  hope,  for  the  furious  wind  and  rain 
abated,  and  finally  fell  away  altogether,  and  at  last 
the  longest  night  I  had  ever  known  came  to  an  end, 
and  the  dawn  came  creeping  up  to  the  sky  as  I  had 
often  seen  it  come  creeping  when  I  awakened  early 

135 


MARJORIE 

lying  on  my  bed  in  Sendennis.  Oh,  the  joy  to  hail 
the  daylight  again,  and  yet  what  a  terrible  condition 
of  things  the  daylight  showed  to  us !  There  was 
our  ship  stuck  fast  on  the  bank;  there  was  her  deck 
all  encumbered  with  the  fallen  mast  and  the  twisted 
ropes  and  the  riven  sails.  Every  man's  face  was  as 
white  as  a  dish,  and  there  was  fear  in  every  man's 
eyes.  Nor  was  it  longer  possible  to  pacify  all  the 
women-folk  or  the  children,  now  that  the  daylight 
showed  them  the  full  extent  of  their  disaster,  and 
every  now  and  then  they  would  break  forth  into 
cries  or  fits  of  sobbing  which  were  pitiful  to  hear. 
Marjorie  did  much  to  calm  their  terrors,  as  did 
Barbara  Hatchett,  both  of  whom  showed  very 
brave  and  calm;  and,  indeed,  the  only  pleasing 
memory  of  all  that  time  of  terror  is  the  thought  of 
those  two  women,  the  one  in  all  the  pride  of  her 
dark  beauty,  the  other  in  all  the  glory  of  her  fair 
loveliness,  moving  about  like  ministering  angels 
amongst  all  those  people  whom  the  sudden  peril  of 
death  had  made  so  fearful  and  so  helpless.  The 
beautiful  woman  and  the  beautiful  maid — none  on 
board  had  braver  hearts  than  they ! 

You  may  imagine  with  what  eagerness  we 
scanned  the  sea  for  any  sight  of  land.  But  though 
Captain  Amber  searched  the  whole  horizon  with 

136 


THE    NIGHT    AND    MORNING 

his  spy-glass,  we  could  find  nothing  better  than  an 
island  which  lay  off  from  us  at  a  distance  of  about 
two  leagues,  and  what  seemed  to  be  a  smaller  island, 
which  lay  further  from  us.  This  did  not  offer  any 
great  promise  of  refuge  to  us,  but  as  it  was  appar- 
ently the  only  hope  we  had  we  all  strove  to  make  the 
best  of  it,  and  to  pretend  to  be  greatly  rejoiced  at 
the  sight  of  even  so  much  land. 

Captain  Amber  immediately  ordered  Hatchett 
to  man  one  of  the  ship's  boats  and  to  make  for  those 
islands  to  examine  them,  a  task  that  now  presented 
no  difficulty,  for  the  wind  had  fallen  away  and  the 
sea  was  smooth  as  it  had  been  turbulent.  I  would 
fain  have  gone  with  the  boat  for  the  sake  of  the 
change,  for  I  was  sick  at  heart  of  the  moaning  and 
the  groaning  of  the  poor  wretches  on  board,  but 
Captain  Amber  did  not  send  me,  and  I  had  no  right 
to  volunteer;  and,  besides,  I  was  still  troubled  by 
a  confused  sense  of  something  that  I  had  to  tell 
him ;  some  danger  that  I  was  instinctively  seeking 
to  ward  off  from  him — and  from  her. 

There  was  something  piteous  in  the  sight  of  that 
single  boat  creeping  slowly  across  the  sea  towards 
those  distant  islands,  and  I  watched  it  as  it  grew 
smaller  and  smaller,  until  it  was  little  more  than  a 
mere  speck  upon  the  waters. 

137 


MARJORIE 

Everything  depended  for  us  upon  the  fortunes 
of  that  boat,  upon  the  tidings  that  it  might  bring 
back  to  us.  I  am  proud  to  say  that  my  thoughts 
went  out  across  that  sea  to  the  home  where  my 
mother  was,  who  prayed  day  and  night  for  her 
boy's  safety,  and  that  my  lips  repeated  that  prayer 
she  had  taught  me  while  I  supplicated  Heaven  with 
all  humility  of  heart,  if  it  were  His  will,  to  bring  us 
out  of  that  peril. 

We  spent  the  time  during  the  boat's  absence  in 
clearing  the  decks  as  well  as  we  might,  in  renewing 
our  efforts  to  pacify  our  women-kind,  and  in  fresh 
attempts,  which,  however,  were  unavailing,  to  get 
our  mast  overboard.  Captain  Amber  had  gathered 
together  those  of  his  men  who  were  old  soldiers, 
and,  having  addressed  them  in  a  stirring  speech, 
which  made  my  blood  beat  more  warmly,  he  set 
them  to  various  tasks  in  preparation  for  what  now 
appeared  to  be  inevitable — our  leaving  the  ship. 
The  brave  fellows  behaved  as  obediently  as  if  they 
had  been  on  parade,  as  courageously  as  if  they  had 
been  going  into  action.  They  were  picked  men  of 
fine  mettle,  and  they  were  yet  to  be  tested  by  severer 
tests,  and  to  stand  the  test  well. 

At  about  nine  o'clock  or  a  little  later  the  boat 
returned.  We  could  see  it,  of  course,  a  long  way 

138 


THE    NIGHT    AND    MORNING 

off,  as  it  made  its  course  towards  us,  but  none  of 
those  on  board  made  any  sign  to  us,  which  we  took, 
and  rightly,  too,  to  be  a  sign  of  no  great  cheer. 
Then  our  hopes,  which  had  begun  to  run  a  little 
higher,  ebbed  away  again,  and  we  waited  in  silence 
for  the  boat  to  come  alongside  and  for  Hatchett  to 
climb  on  board  and  to  make  his  report  to  Captain 
Marmaduke.  This  he  did  in  private,  Captain 
Marmaduke  taking  him  a  little  apart,  while  we  all 
looked  on  and  hungered  for  the  news. 

We  had  not  long  to  wait,  and  when  it  came  it 
was  not  so  bad  as  we  had  feared,  if  it  was  not  so 
good  as  some  of  us  had  hoped  for. 

Captain  Amber  came  forward  to  the  middle  of 
the  deck,  where  everybody  was  assembled  waiting 
for  the  tidings. 

'Friends  and  companions,'  he  said,  'our  explorers 
report  that  yonder  island  is  far  from  inhospitable. 
It  is  not  covered  by  the  sea  at  high  water,  as  we 
feared  at  first;  it  is  much  larger  than  it  seems  to 
us  at  this  distance ;  there  will  be  ample  room  for  us 
all  during  the  short  time  that  we  may  have  to  abide 
there  before  we  sight  a  ship.  I  must  indeed  admit 
to  you  that  the  coast  is  both  rocky  and  full  of  shoals, 
and  that  the  landing  thereupon  will  not  be  without 
its  difficulties,  and  even  its  dangers,  but  we  came 

139 


MARJORIE 

out  prepared  to  face  difficulties  and  dangers  if  needs 
were,  and  these  shall  not  dismay  us.  As  for  the  fur- 
ther island,  we  may  learn  of  that  later.' 

He  looked  very  gallant  as  he  said  all  this,  stand- 
ing there  with  the  morning  sunlight  shining  upon 
his  brave  face  and  upon  his  fine  coat — for  by  this 
time  he  was  fully  habited  and  in  his  best,  as  beseem- 
eth  the  leader  of  an  expedition  when  about  to  disem- 
bark upon  an  unfamiliar  shore.  All  around  him 
had  listened  in  silence  while  he  spoke,  but  now,  at 
the  close,  some  of  the  soldier-fellows  set  up  a 
kind  of  cheer  in  answer  to  his  speech.  It  was  not 
very  much  of  a  cheer,  but  it  was  better  than  nothing 
in  our  dismal  case.  It  served  to  set  our  bloods 
tingling  a  little,  so  Lancelot  and  I  caught  it  up, 
and  kept  it  up  too,  with  the  whole  strength 
of  our  lungs,  till  the  example  spread,  and  soon 
we  had  every  man  on  deck  huzzaing  his  best,  while 
Cornelys  Jensen  and  Hatchett  swung  their  caps  and 
lifted  their  voices  with  the  best.  It  was  a  strange 
sound,  that  hearty  British  cheer  ringing  out  through 
that  lonely  air;  it  was  a  strange  sight,  all  those 
stout  fellows  marshalled  as  best  they  might  on  the 
sloping  deck  and  fanning  their  scanty  hopes  into 
a  flame  with  shouting,  while  the  ruined  mast,  thrust 
over  the  side,  pointed  curiously  enough  straight  in 

140 


THE    NIGHT    AND    MORNING 

the  direction  of  those  islands  whose  hospitable  qual- 
ities we  were  soon  to  try. 

It  was  soon  decided,  after  a  brief  conference  be- 
tween Captain  Amber  and  Cornelys  Jensen,  that  we 
should  transfer  our  company  as  fast  as  might  be  to 
the  near  island,  for  there  was  no  knowing  when  the 
smooth  weather  might  shift  again  and  how  long  our 
Royal  Christopher  would  hold  together  if  the 
waves,  which  were  now  lapping  against  its  sides, 
grew  angrier.  It  was  resolved  that  the  most  press- 
ing business  was  to  send  on  shore  at  once  the  women 
and  children  and  such  sick  people  as  we  had  on 
board,  for  these,  as  was  but  natural,  were  the  most 
troublesome  for  us  to  deal  with  in  our  difficulty, 
being  timorous  and  noisy  with  their  fears,  and  set- 
ting a  bad  example. 

So  when  it  was  about  ten  of  the  clock,  or  maybe 
later,  for  the  time  slipped  by  rapidly,  we  got  loose 
our  shallop  and  our  skiff  and  lowered  them  into 
the  water,  and  got  most  of  the  women  and  the 
children  and  the  sick  folk  into  them  and  sent  them 
off,  poor  creatures,  across  the  waste  of  waters  to 
the  islands.  Barbara  Hatchett  went  with  them,  for 
her  firmness  and  courage  served  rarely  to  keep  them 
quiet  and  inspire  them  with  some  little  fortitude. 
As  for  Marjorie,  she  would  by  no  means  leave  the 

141 


MARJORIE 

ship  so  long  as  Lancelot  was  on  board,  so  she 
stayed  with  us,  at  which  I  could  not  help  in  my 
heart  being  glad,  in  spite  of  the  danger  that  there 
was  to  everyone  who  stuck  by  the  ship. 

While  these  first  boat  loads  were  away  we  on 
board  made  efforts  for  the  provisioning  of  our  new 
home,  getting  up  the  bread  and  such  viands  as  we 
could,  and  packing  them  in  as  portable  a  manner 
as  might  be  for  the  next  journey.  But  by  this  time 
unhappily  we  began  to  be  threatened  by  a  fresh 
trouble.  No  sooner  were  we  free  from  the  women- 
folk and  the  children,  whose  presence  had  hampered 
us  so  sorely,  than  a  far  more  pressing  vexation  came 
upon  us.  For  certain  of  the  sailors,  who  up  to  this 
point  had  behaved  well  enough,  suddenly  flung 
aside  their  good  behaviour.  They  had  got  at  the 
wine,  of  which,  unhappily,  in  the  first  confusion  of 
our  mischance  no  care  had  been  taken,  and  many  of 
them  were  roaring  drunk,  and  capable  of  doing 
little  service  beyond  shouting  and  cursing  at  one 
another.  When  Cornelys  Jensen  saw  this  he  did 
his  best  to  prevent  them,  and  though  some  of  them 
were  too  sullen  to  obey  him,  he  did  at  last  contrive 
with  threats  and  oaths  to  keep  such  of  the  sailors 
as  were  still  sober  away  from  the  liquor.  By  this 
time  Lancelot,  facing  the  new  danger,  got  from 

142 


THE    NIGHT    AND    MORNING 

his  uncle  the  key  of  the  storeroom  where  the  arms 
were  kept,  and  served  out  weapons  to  all  those  on 
board  who  had  been  soldiers  and  who  loved  Cap- 
tain Amber.  A  pretty  body  of  men  they  made,  each 
with  a  musket  on  his  shoulder,  a  hanger  by  his  side, 
and  a  brace  of  pistols  in  his  belt.  They  were  all 
reliable  men — many  of  them,  indeed,  had  experi- 
enced religion,  and  had  in  them  something  of  the 
old  Covenanting  spirit,  which  had  worked  such 
wonders  under  General  Cromwell. 

I  could  see  that  Cornelys  Jensen  was  very  ill- 
pleased  with  this  act  on  our  part,  but  he  could  say 
nothing,  for  the  thing  was  done  before  he  could  say 
or  do  aught  to  prevent  it,  and  very  fortunate  it  was 
that  we  had  done  so  betimes,  for  now  Captain  Mar- 
maduke  had  under  him  a  body  of  sober,  disciplined, 
well-armed  men,  who  would  obey  him  and  stand  by 
him  to  the  last  extremity.  I  myself  had  slung  a 
hanger  by  my  side  and  thrust  a  brace  of  pistols  into 
my  girdle,  and  I  believe  that  I  well-nigh  rejoiced 
in  the  peril  which  gave  me  the  chance  to  carry  those 
weapons  and  to  make,  as  I  fancied,  so  brave  a  show. 
Lancelot  armed  himself  too  in  like  fashion,  for  he 
served  as  second  in  command  of  our  little  troop 
under  Captain  Amber.  For  my  part,  I  held  no 
rank  indeed  in  the  little  army,  but  I  looked 

143 


MARJORIE 

upon  myself  as  a  kind  of  aide-de-camp  to  my 
Captain. 

With  half  a  dozen  of  those  men  we  gathered 
together  all  the  cases  of  wine  that  had  been  brought 
out  and  placed  them  back  in  the  spirit  room,  over 
which  we  mounted  two  men  as  guard.  It  was  idle 
to  try  and  lock  the  door,  for  the  lock  had  been  shat- 
tered, possibly  when  we  ran  aground,  and  would 
not  hold.  But  we  locked  the  door  of  the  room 
where  our  weapons  and  ammunition  were,  and 
placed  another  guard  there. 

I  think  many  of  the  sailors  were  mightily  an- 
noyed at  this  action  of  ours,  and  gladly  would  have 
resented  it.  But  there  was  nothing  they  could  do  just 
then,  and  though  Cornelys  Jensen  was  more  savage 
than  any  of  them,  he  wore  a  smooth  face,  and  kept 
them  in  check  by  his  authority.  Though  we  did  not 
dream  of  it  then,  it  was  a  mighty  blessing  for  us, 
that  same  shipwreck,  for  if  it  had  not  come  about 
just  when  it  did  worse  would  have  happened.  As 
matters  now  stood,  our  little  party — for  it  was  be- 
coming pretty  plain  that  there  were  two  parties 
in  the  ship — was  well  armed,  while  the  sailors  had 
no  other  weapons  than  their  knives. 


144 


CHAPTER   XIX 

HOW   SOME   OF   US   GOT  TO   THE   ISLAND 

BUT  between  our  need  for  watchfulness  and  the 
drunkenness  of  many  of  the  crew  the  time  slipped 
away  without  our  doing  as  much  as  we  should  have 
done  under  happier  conditions.  Thanks  to  the  con- 
fusion that  their  wantonness  had  caused,  we  did 
but  make  three  trips  in  all  to  the  island  in  that  day, 
in  which  three  trips  we  managed  to  send  over  about 
fifty  persons,  with  some  twenty  barrels  of  bread 
and  a  few  casks  of  water.  Had  we  been  wiser  we 
should  have  sent  more  water,  for  we  could  not  tell 
how  distressed  we  might  become  for  want  of  it  on 
the  shore  if  we  did  not  find  any  spring  of  fair  water 
on  the  island.  However,  I  am  recording  what  we 
did,  and  not  what  we  ought  to  have  done,  and  I 
can  assure  my  friends  that  if  ever  they  find  them- 
selves in  such  straits  as  we  were  in  that  night  and 
day  they  will  have  reason  to  be  thankful  if  they 
manage  to  keep  all  their  wits  about  them,  and  to 

'45 


MARJORIE 

conduct  their  affairs  with  the  same  wisdom  that 
they,  as  I  make  no  doubt,  display  in  less  pressing 
hours.  For  myself,  my  wits  were  still  wool-gath- 
ering, still  were  striving  to  remember  something 
which  for  the  life  of  me  I  could  not  manage  to 
remember. 

It  was  well-nigh  evening,  and  twilight  was  mak- 
ing the  distant  land  indistinct,  when  Hatchett  came 
back  from  the  last  of  those  three  voyages  with  very 
unpleasant  tidings — that  it  was  no  use  for  us  to  send 
over  any  more  provisions  to  the  island,  as  those 
who  had  been  disembarked  there  were  only  wasting 
that  which  they  had  already  received.  Indeed, 
Hatchett  painted  a  gloomy  picture  of  the  conduct 
of  those  colonists  who  were  now  on  shore,  declar- 
ing that  they  had  cast  all  discipline  and  decorum  to 
the  winds,  and  that  they  needed  stern  treatment 
if  they  were  to  be  prevented  from  breaking  out  into 
open  mutiny. 

There  were,  of  course,  a  great  variety  of  folk 
among  our  colonists,  and  many  of  them  were  weak 
and  foolish  creatures  enough,  as  there  always  will 
be  weak  and  foolish  creatures  in  any  community  of 
human  beings  until  the  human  race  grows  into  per- 
fection, as  some  philosophers  maintain  that  it  will. 
Now,  it  certainly  was  precisely  this  element  in  our 

146 


HOW  SOME  GOT  TO  THE  ISLAND 

little  society  that  had  been  shipped  off  to  the  island, 
for,  with  the  women  and  children,  it  was  the  men 
who  were  most  womanlike  in  their  noise,  or  most 
childlike  in  their  fears,  whose  safety  we  had  first 
ensured.  From  what  our  Captain  knew  of  these 
people,  well-meaning  enough  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions, but  timorous  and  foolish  under  conditions 
such  as  we  now  were  in,  he  guessed  that  disorgan- 
isation and  disturbance  might  be  likely  enough. 
Therefore  he  resolved,  and  his  resolve  was  ap- 
proved both  by  Hatchett  and  by  Jensen,  that  he 
would  go  over  himself  to  the  island  and  restore 
order  among  the  malcontents. 

Now  I  will  confess  that  when  I  heard  of  this 
my  heart  sank,  for  I  took  it  for  granted  that  Mar- 
jorie  would  go  with  Captain  Marmaduke,  and 
indeed  it  seemed  only  right  that  she  should  go 
rather  than  remain  upon  the  Royal  Christopher 
with  only  a  parcel  of  rough  men  aboard  her,  and 
those  rough  men  sorely  divided  in  purpose,  and 
each  division  mistrustful  of  the  other.  All  through 
those  long  hours  of  shipwreck  sorrow  my  spirits 
had  been  cheered  by  the  sight  of  her  beauty  and  the 
example  of  her  calm.  She  weathered  the  calamity 
with  the  bravest  temper;  never  cast  down,  never 
assuming  a  false  elation,  but  bearing  herself  in  all 


MARJORIE 

just  as  a  true  man  would  like  the  woman  he  loved 
to  bear  herself  in  stress  and  peril.  I  have  read  of 
a  maid  in  France  ages  back  who  raised  armies  to 
drive  my  ancestors  out  of  her  fatherland  and  I  think 
that  maid  must  have  looked  as  my  maid  did  and 
had  the  same  blessed  grace  to  inspire  courage  and 
love  and  service. 

So  when  I  thought  that  Marjorie  was  about  to 
quit  the  ship  I  felt  such  a  sudden  wrench  at  my 
heart  as  made  me  feel  sick  and  dizzy,  like  a  man 
about  to  faint.  The  water  came  into  my  eyes  with 
the  saltness  of  the  sea,  and  words  without  meaning 
— words  of  pain,  and  grief,  and  longing — seemed 
to  seek  a  form  at  my  lips  and  then  to  perish  without 
a  breath.  But  at  last,  with  an  effort,  I  shook  myself 
free  of  my  stupor.  I  might  never  see  her  again,  I 
told  myself;  this  might  be  our  latest  parting,  there 
on  that  wretched  deck,  in  that  crowd  of  faces 
painted  with  fear  and  fury,  with  the  sullen  sea  about 
us  which  would  so  soon  divide  us.  Come  what 
might  come  of  it,  I  swore  that  I  would  say  my  say 
and  not  carry  the  regret  of  a  fool's  silence  to  my 
grave.  For  though  my  heart  seemed  to  beat  like 
the  drums  of  a  dozen  garrisons,  I  made  my  way 
across  the  slippery  deck  to  where  the  girl  stood,  for 
the  moment  alone,  with  the  wind  flapping  her  hair 

148 


HOW  SOME  GOT  TO  THE   ISLAND 

about  and  blowing  her  gown  against  her.  She  was 
looking  out  at  the  island  when  I  came  close,  and 
there  was  so  much  noise  aboard  and  beyond  that 
she  did  not  hear  my  coming  till  I  stood  beside  her, 
and  called  her  name  into  her  ear.  Then  she  turned 
her  pale  face  to  me,  and  small  blame  to  her  to  look 
pale  in  those  terrors;  but  her  eyes  had  all  their 
brightness,  and  there  was  no  sign  of  fear  in  them  or 
on  her  lips.  I  thought  her  more  beautiful  than 
ever  as  she  stood  there,  so  calm  in  all  that  savage 
scene  of  ruin,  so  brave  at  a  time  when  stout  men 
shook  with  fear. 

'Marjorie,'  I  said,  'I  want  to  tell  you  something. 
I  hope  in  God's  mercy  that  we  may  meet  again,  but 
God  alone  knows  if  we  ever  shall.  And  so  I  want 
to  tell  you  that,  whatever  happens  to  me,  sick  or 
well,  in  danger  or  out  of  it,  I  am  your  servant,  and 
that  your  name  will  be  in  my  heart  to  the  end.' 

She  had  heard  me  in  quiet,  but  there  was  a  won- 
der in  her  face  as  she  listened  to  the  words  I  stum- 
bled over.  In  fear  to  be  misunderstood,  I  spoke 
again  in  an  agony. 

'Marjorie,'  I  said,  'dear  Marjorie,  I  should  never 
have  dared  to  tell  you  but  for  this  hour.  But  I  may 
never  see  you  again,  and  I  love  you.' 

And  then  I  lost  command  of  myself  and  my 
149 


MARJORIE 

words,  and  begged  her  incoherently  to  forgive  me, 
and  to  think  kind  thoughts  of  me  if  this  were  indeed 
farewell.  She  was  silent  for  a  moment,  and  there 
came  no  change  over  her  face.  Then  she  said 
softly : 

'Why  do  you  tell  me  this  now?  Is  there  some 
new  danger?' 

I  stared  at  her  in  wonder. 

'Marjorie,'  I  cried,  'Marjorie,  are  you  not  going 
to  leave  the  ship  ?'  She  shook  her  head. 

'I  stay  with  Lancelot,'  she  answered  quietly.  'It 
is  an  old  promise  between  us.  Where  he  is  I  abide. 
That  is  our  compact.' 

I  cannot  find  any  words  for  the  fulness  of  joy 
that  flooded  my  heart  as  Marjorie  spoke.  I  would 
still  be  near  her;  the  ruined  ship  remain  a  sacred 
dwelling.  But  in  my  error  I  had  blundered,  over- 
bold, and  I  tried  to  explain  confusedly. 

'Marjorie,'  I  said,  'I  thought  you  were  going  and 
I  dared  to  tell  you  the  truth.  It  is  the  truth  indeed, 
but  I  should  not  have  told  it.' 

She  held  out  her  hand  to  me  with  a  kind  smile  as 
I  clasped  it. 

'We  are  good  friends,'  she  said.  'You  and  I 
and  Lancelot.  Let  us  remember  nothing  but  that, 
that  we  are  good  friends,  we  three.  I  always  think 

150 


HOW  SOME  GOT  TO  THE  ISLAND 

well  of  you ;  always  deserve  that  I  shall  think  well 
of  you.  Be  always  brave  and  good  and  God  bless 
you !' 

She  let  go  my  hand  as  she  spoke  and  I  turned 
away  and  left  her,  stirred  by  a  thousand  joys  and 
fears  and  wonders. 

By  this  time  Captain  Amber  had  made  all  his 
preparations,  albeit  with  no  small  reluctance,  to  quit 
the  ship.  He  picked  out  some  ten  of  his  men  from 
those  that  had  served  him  of  old  and  that  were 
now  equipped  as  men  of  war.  Then  he  formally 
entrusted  to  Lancelot  the  ship  and  the  lives  of  all 
aboard  her.  Marjorie,  who  now  came  to  him,  he 
kissed  very  tenderly,  making  no  attempt  to  urge 
her  to  accompany  him.  He  knew  the  two  so  well 
and  their  love  and  loyalty  each  to  the  other.  Then 
he  took  me  by  the  hand  and  bade  me  serve  Lancelot 
as  I  would  serve  him,  which  I  faithfully  and  gladly 
promised  to  do,  and  so  he  went  over  the  side  into 
the  skiff,  with  his  men  and  Hatchett,  and  the  sailors 
that  were  handling  the  skiff,  and  made  his  way 
towards  the  island. 

It  was  now  that  a  thing  came  to  pass  which  re- 
lieved my  mind  of  a  care  only  to  increase  our  anx- 
ieties. When  the  skiff  was  a  little  way  from  the 
ship  my  Captain,  looking  back  to  where  we  lay, 


MARJORIE 

drew  from  his  pocket  his  kerchief,  which  was  a  big 
and  brightly-coloured  kerchief,  such  as  men  love 
who  follow  the  sea,  and  waved  it  in  our  direction  as 
a  signal  of  farewell,  and,  no  doubt,  of  encourage- 
ment. Now,  I  cannot  quite  tell  the  train  of  thought 
which  the  sight  of  that  action  aroused  in  my  mind, 
but  I  think  that  it  was  something  after  this  fashion. 
The  waving  of  that  kerchief  reminded  me  of  the 
waving  of  a  flag,  and  the  moment  that  the  word 
flag  came  into  my  mind  I  suddenly  remembered 
what  it  was  that  I  had  been  trying  to  remember 
through  all  those  weary  hours.  As  in  a  mirror  I 
saw  again  the  interior  of  Jensen's  cabin  and  the 
beautiful  face  of  Barbara,  smiling  as  she  stooped 
over  her  hideous  standard.  I  saw  again  that  vile 
black  flag,  and  as  the  picture  painted  itself  upon 
my  brain  the  consciousness  of  our  peril  came  upon 
me  in  all  its  strength. 

Without  a  doubt,  the  first  thing  to  do  was  to  tell 
Lancelot  what  I  knew.  It  was  too  late  now  to  tell 
the  Captain.  Even  if  he  were  not  too  far  to  see 
and  understand  such  signals  as  we  might  make  to 
him  to  return,  it  would  not  do  to  let  Jensen  and  the 
rest  of  the  crew  know  that  we  had  fathomed  their 
treachery.  So  I  argued  the  matter  to  myself.  It 
was  certain  that  Jensen  had  no  notion  that  I  was 

152 


HOW  SOME  GOT  TO  THE  ISLAND 

any  sharer  in  his  dark  secret,  for  though  I  could 
read  in  his  face  his  dislike,  I  could  see  there  no 
distrust  of  us.  The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to 
break  the  bad  news  to  Lancelot. 

I  drew  Lancelot  aside  and  told  him  what  I  had 
seen.  At  first  he  was  amazed  and  incredulous; 
amazed  because  I  had  not  warned  Captain  Amber 
before,  and  incredulous  because,  when  I  explained 
my  forgetfulness  through  my  fall  and  the  hurt  to 
my  head,  he  would  needs  have  it  that  I  imagined 
the  whole  matter.  But  I  was  so  confident  in  my  tale 
that  I  shook  his  disbelief — at  least,  so  far  that  he 
declared  himself  willing  to  take  all  possible  pre- 
cautions. 

As  matters  stood  we  seemed  to  be  in  the  better 
case.  We  had  well-trained,  well-armed  men  on  our 
side;  we  had  the  supply  of  arms  and  ammunition 
in  our  care  and  under  our  guard ;  if  the  sailors  were 
more  numerous  than  we,  they  were  practically  un- 
armed. It  was  clear  to  both  Lancelot  and  myself 
that  the  shipwreck,  which  had  seemed  so  great  a 
misfortune,  was  really  the  means  of  averting  a 
more  terrible  calamity.  We  could  not  doubt  that 
the  intention  of  Jensen  and  his  accomplices  had 
been  to  seize  the  ship  suddenly,  taking  us  unawares 
when  we  were  asleep,  cutting  most  of  our  throats, 

153 


MARJORIE 

very  likely,  and,  after  seizing  upon  the  supply  of 
arms,  overawing  such  of  the  colonists  and  others 
as  should  be  unwilling  to  convert  the  noble  Royal 
Christopher  into  a  pirate  ship. 


154 


CHAPTER   XX 

A   BAD  NIGHT 

Now  our  Captain  had  not  been  very  long  gone 
when  the  fair  weather  proved  as  fitful  as  a  woman's 
mood,  and  the  smiling  skies  grew  sullen.  That 
same  moaning  of  the  wind  which  we  had  heard  with 
such  terror  on  the  preceding  evening  began  to  be 
heard  again,  and  its  sound  struck  a  chill  into  all  our 
hearts.  The  evening  sky  waxed  darker,  and  the 
water  that  had  been  placable  all  day  grew  mutinous 
and  mounted  into  waves — not  very  mighty  waves, 
indeed,  but  big  enough  to  make  us  all  fearsome  for 
the  safety  of  our  ship,  for  where  the  Royal  Chris- 
topher was,  perched  upon  that  bank  of  ill  omen,  the 
force  of  the  water  was  always  greatest  in  any  agita- 
tion, and  there  was  ever  present  to  our  minds  the 
chance  that  she  might  go  to  pieces  before  some 
sudden  onslaught  of  the  sea.  In  the  face  of  that 
common  peril  we  all  forgot  our  watchfulness  of  each 
other,  and  Jensen  and  the  sailors  worked  as  earnest- 
ly to  do  all  they  could  for  the  safety  of  our  vessel 

155 


MARJORIE 

as  on  our  side  Lancelot  and  I  and  the  stout  fellows 
under  our  command  worked. 

It  was  in  all  this  trouble  and  hubbub  that  Mar- 
jorie  showed  herself  to  be  the  gallantest  girl  in  the 
world.  She  was  resolved  to  stay  with  Lancelot,  but 
she  was  no  less  resolved  to  hamper  him  not  at  all 
by  her  presence.  So  when  I  came  at  dusk  to  the 
Captain's  cabin  to  consult  with  Lancelot,  who  had 
shifted  his  quarters  thither,  I  found  his  sister  with 
him,  but  very  changed  in  outward  seeming.  For 
she  had  slipped  on  a  sea-suit  of  Lancelot's  and  her 
limbs  were  hid  in  a  pair  of  seaman's  boots  and  her 
fair  hair  coiled  out  of  sight  under  a  seaman's  cap, 
and  in  this  sea  change  she  made  the  fairest  lad  in 
the  world  and  might  have  been  my  Lancelot's 
brother  to  a  hasty  eye.  She  had  a  mind,  she  said,  to 
play  the  man  till  fortune  mended,  and  vowed  to 
take  her  share  of  work  with  the  best  of  us.  At 
which  Lancelot  smiled  sweetly  and  commended  her 
wisdom  in  changing  her  rig,  and  as  for  me  I  would 
have  adored  her  more  than  before,  had  that  been 
possible,  to  find  her  so  adaptable  to  danger.  But 
there  was  little  for  her  to  do  save  to  encourage  us 
with  her  comradeship,  and  that  she  did  bravely 
through  it  all,  acting  as  any  boy  messmate  might, 
and  taking  her  place  so  naturally  and  simply  in 

156 


'HER  FAIR  HAIR  WAS  COILED  OUT  OF  SIGHT  UNDER  A  SEAMAN'S  CAP. 


A   BAD   NIGHT 

those  hours  of  trial  that  it  was  not  until  later  that 
I  thought  how  strangely  and  how  rarely  she  carried 
herself  and  how  quietly  she  played  her  part. 

I  shall  never  forget  that  terrible  night  on  board 
the  ship,  with  the  waves  smacking  our  poor  sides, 
that  groaned  at  every  blow,  and  the  wind  moaning 
through  the  ruined  rigging  in  a  kind  of  sobbing 
way,  as  if  all  the  elements  were  joining  in  a  requiem 
for  our  foredoomed  lives.  There  was  never  a  mo- 
ment when  we  could  be  sure  that  the  next  might 
not  be  our  last;  never  a  moment  when  we  could 
not  tell  that  the  next  wave  might  not  sweep  the 
ship  with  riven  timbers  into  hopeless  wreck,  and 
plunge  us  poor  wretches  into  the  stormy  seas  to 
struggle  for  a  few  seconds  desperately  and  unavail- 
ingly  for  our  lives. 

Through  all  that  dismal  night  there  was  but 
little  for  us  to  do,  and  so  I  passed  a  portion  of 
my  time  in  the  cabin  fortifying  my  heart  with  the 
perusal  of  the  book  Mr.  Davies  gave  me.  I  did 
not  on  that  night  neglect  the  thoughts  of  religion. 
Indeed,  if  I  had  been  of  a  mind  to,  which  Heaven 
be  praised  I  was  not,  I  could  not  have  very  well 
done  so.  For  among  our  people  there  was  a  rever- 
end man,  one  Mr.  Ephraim  Ebrow,  whom  extreme 
poverty  had  tempted  to  accompany  Captain  Am- 

J57 


MARJORIE 

ber's  party,  and  this  excellent  man  was  at  all  times 
ready  to  deliver  an  exhortation,  or  to  favour  us 
with  readings  from  the  Holy  Book.  He  was  truly 
one  of  the  Church  Militant,  and  came  of  an  old 
fanatique  stock,  and  in  moments  of  danger  he  was 
as  gallant  and  as  calm  as  any  seasoned  adventurer. 
He  had  a  very  fine  voice,  and  it  was  no  slight  pleas- 
ure to  hear  him  put  up  a  prayer,  or  deliver  a  sermon, 
or  read  out  chapters  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  author- 
ised version.  He  himself,  because  he  was  no  mean 
scholar,  was  wont  to  search  the  Scriptures  from  a 
Hebrew  copy  which  he  always  carried  with  him. 
On  this  night  he  read  to  us  many  portions  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  got  us  to  pray  with  him,  and  did 
many  things  of  the  kind  that  went  to  stay  our  alarm 
and  strengthen  our  trust  in  the  merciful  wisdom  of 
Providence.  But  that  I  found  balm  in  the  Holy 
Word  was  no  reason  why  I  should  not  find  courage 
also  from  the  plain  words  of  a  plain  swordsman. 
So  I  read  in  my  book  by  the  light  of  a  ship's  lantern, 
and  tried  to  give  my  thoughts  to  the  exercise  of 
weapons. 

While  I  was  reading  thus  in  the  cabin  the  door 
swung  ajar,  for  ever  since  the  accident  the  furniture 
of  the  ship  was  all  put  out  of  gear.  Presently  I 
heard  the  tramping  of  feet  along  the  passage,  and 

J58 


A   BAD   NIGHT 

then  the  door  was  pushed  open  and  Cornelys  Jensen 
stood  in  the  doorway  and  stared  at  me.  I  lifted  my 
eyes  and  stared  back  at  him. 

'This  is  a  wise  way  of  passing  the  time,'  he  said 
with  a  sneer.  'Book-learning,  forsooth,  when  the 
ship  may  go  to  pieces  every  instant.' 

The  tone  of  his  voice  galled  me,  and  I  answered 
him  angrily,  perchance  rashly. 

'I  am  no  bookman,'  I  said.  'But  there  is  nothing 
to  do  at  this  hour,  and  I  feel  no  need  for  sleep.' 
For  we  had  divided  the  night  in  watches,  but  I  was 
wakeful  as  a  hare  that  is  being  chased,  and  could 
not  close  my  eyes  to  any  purpose. 

'Nay,'  said  I,  'there  are  worse  things  than  read- 
ing a  good  book.  Where  is  your  black  flag,  Mas- 
ter Jensen?' 

You  should  have  seen  how,  just  for  a  moment, 
he  glared  at  me.  He  was  armed,  of  course,  and  I 
think  at  that  moment  that  he  was  sorely  minded  to 
take  my  life.  But  I  had  a  pistol  on  the  table,  and 
my  hand  lay  on  the  pistol,  and  the  muzzle  pointed 
across  the  table  very  straightly  in  the  direction  of 
Cornelys  Jensen.  Then  the  angry  look  fell  away 
from  his  face,  and  he  broke  into  long,  low  laughter, 
moving  his  head  slowly  up  and  down,  and  fixing  me 
very  keenly  with  his  bright  eyes. 

159 


MARJORIE 

'You  are  a  smart  lad,'  he  said  at  last.  'What 
the  plague  have  you  tq>  do  with  my  black  flag?' 

'What  have  you  to  do  with  it  were  a  question 
more  to  the  point,'  I  answered  him,  and  I  make  no 
doubt  now  that  in  speaking  as  I  did  I  was  doing  a 
very  foolish  thing.  But  I  was  only  a  boy,  and  in- 
experienced, and  indeed  all  my  life  I  have  been 
given  to  blurting  out  things  that  mayhap  I  had 
better  have  kept  to  myself. 

He  laughed  again. 

'Nay,'  he  said,  'it  is  one  of  my  most  treasured 
possessions.  I  hauled  it  down  with  mine  own  hands 
from  a  pirate  ship  in  my  youth,  when  we  captured 
the  bark  of  that  nefarious  sea  rover  Captain  An- 
thony. I  have  carried  it  with  me  for  luck  ever 
since,  and  it  has  always  brought  me  luck — always 
till  now.'  Then  he  nodded  his  head  again  slowly 
twice  or  thrice.  'I  will  give  it  to  you  if  you  wish, 
Master  Ralph,'  he  said;  'I  will  give  it  to  you  for 
luck.' 

'I  do  not  want  it,'  I  said  angrily,  being  somewhat 
confused  with  the  turn  things  had  taken.  'I  am 
not  superstitious  for  luck.' 

Which  indeed  was  not  true,  for  I  never  met  a 
seaman  yet  who  was  not  superstitious;  but  I  was 
wrathful,  and  I  knew  not  what  to  say. 

160 


A   BAD   NIGHT 

'Very  well,'  he  said,  Very  well.  But  you  are 
welcome  to  it  if  you  wish.' 

Then  he  went  out  of  the  cabin  without  another 
word  and  drew  the  door  behind  him.  I  sat  still 
for  some  seconds  listening  to  the  sound  of  his  de- 
parting footstep. 

Now  I  was  bitterly  vexed  with  myself.  I  had 
done  a  vain  thing.  I  had  put  Jensen  upon  his 
guard  by  showing  him  that  I  knew  something  at 
least  of  his  purposes,  and  I  had  put  it  into  his  power 
to  offer  a  very  ready  explanation  of  suspicious  cir- 
cumstances. Indeed,  how  was  I  to  know  that  what 
he  said  was  not  true  ?  There  was  nothing  whatever 
on  the  face  of  it  unlikely,  and  if  he  told  such  a 
story  to  Captain  Marmaduke,  why,  it  was  ten 
chances  to  one  that  Captain  Marmaduke  would 
implicitly  believe  in  him.  For  there  was  no  doubt 
about  it,  Captain  Marmaduke  had  a  great  regard 
for  Cornelys  Jensen. 

There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  tell  Lancelot  of 
what  Jensen  had  said,  and  I  did  this  with  all  dis- 
patch. My  statement  had  at  least  the  effect  of  con- 
vincing Lancelot  that  I  had  in  very  fact  seen  what 
I  had  described  to  him  about  the  flag.  But  I  could 
see  that  Jensen's  explanation  had  its  effect  upon  him 
very  much  as  I  felt  sure  that  it  would  have  its  effect 

161 


MARJORIE 

upon  Captain  Marmaduke.  Lancelot  had  nothing 
like  the  same  regard  for  Jensen  that  his  uncle  had, 
but  I  knew  that  he  did  follow  his  uncle's  lead  in 
trusting  him. 

'You  see,  Ralph,'  he  said  to  me,  'this  is  a  very 
likely  story.  Jensen  is  an  old  sailor.  My  uncle 
has  told  me  a  thousand  times  that  he  has  served 
against  pirates  in  his  youth.  What  more  natural 
than  that  he  should  preserve  such  a  trophy  of  his 
prowess  as  the  captured  flag  of  some  such  villain  as 
that  same  Captain  Anthony,  of  whom  I  have  often 
heard  ?  But  we  will  be  watchful  none  the  less,  and 
well  on  our  guard.' 

I  could  see  that  Lancelot  did  not  share  my  fears 
as  regarded  Jensen,  although  he  was  troubled  by 
the  mutinous  carriage  of  certain  of  the  crew.  I 
know  that  I  was  very  apprehensive  and  unhappy, 
and  that  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  that  night  would 
never  end. 


162 


CHAPTER    XXI 

RAFTS 

WHEN  the  day  did  break  at  last  it  brought  no  great 
degree  of  comfort  with  it.  We  were  surrounded 
by  a  yellow,  yeasty  sea,  and  the  air  was  so  thick 
that  the  islands  on  which  our  lives  depended  seemed 
but  shapeless  shadows  in  the  distance.  Still  the 
wind  had  abated  somewhat,  but  the  swell  was  very 
strong,  and  we  were  without  any  means  of  attempt- 
ing to  leave  the  vessel. 

When  it  was  quite  morning,  and  the  sky  cleared 
a  little,  we  saw  the  skiff,  with  the  Captain  on  board, 
beating  about  on  the  water  and  trying  to  make  for 
us.  But  in  this  he  was  not  able  to  succeed,  for  the 
waves  were  running  so  high  that  it  would  have  been 
quite  impossible  either  to  bring  the  skift  alongside 
or  to  get  on  board  our  vessel  if  he  had  done  so.  We 
could  see  the  Captain  standing  up  in  the  bows  of  the 
boat  and  signalling  to  us,  and  it  made  our  hearts 
sick  to  be  able  to  see  him  and  to  be  unable  to  know 
what  he  wanted  or  what  we  ought  to  do. 

At  this  moment  one  of  the  men — he  was  the 
ship's  carpenter,  and  a  decent,  honest  sort  of  fel- 

163 


MARJORIE 

low — said  that  he  was  a  very  good  swimmer,  and 
that  he  thought  he  could  reach  the  skiff  in  that  way. 
He  was  so  very  confident  of  his  own  powers  that 
though  we  were  somewhat  unwilling  to  let  him  risk 
his  life,  he  did  in  the  end  prevail  upon  Lancelot  to 
let  him  make  the  attempt. 

The  man  stripped  and  was  into  the  sea  in  a 
moment,  fighting  bravely  with  the  billows  that  buf- 
feted him.  It  was  a  good  sight  to  see  him  slowly 
forging  his  way  through  that  yellow,  clapping 
water;  it  is  always  a  good  sight  to*  see  a  strong  man 
or  a  brave  man  doing  a  daring  thing  for  the  sake 
of  other  people.  We  watched  his  body  as  he  swam ; 
he  was  but  a  common  man,  but  his  skin  seemed  as 
white  as  a  woman's  in  that  foul  spume,  and  his 
black  hair,  which  he  wore  long,  streamed  in  a  rail 
upon  the  water  as  a  woman's  might.  But  I  do  not 
think  the  woman  ever  lived  who  could  swim  as  that 
man  swam. 

We  watched  him  grow  smaller  and  smaller,  and 
most  of  us  prayed  for  him  silently  as  he  fought  his 
way  through  the  waters.  At  last  we  saw  that  he 
had  reached  the  skiff,  and  we  could  see  that  he  was 
being  pulled  over  the  side.  Then  there  came  a  long 
interval — oh,  how  long  it  seemed  to  us,  as  we 
watched  the  leaping  waves  and  the  distant  skiff 

164 


RAFTS 

that  leaped  upon  them,  and  wondered  if  the  man's 
strength  would  carry  him  back  again  to  us!  By- 
and-by — it  was  not  really  such  a  very  long  time, 
but  it  seemed  like  centuries — Lancelot,  who  was 
looking  through  his  spy-glass,  said  that  the  man 
was  going  over  the  skiff's  side  again.  Then  we  all 
held  our  breaths  and  waited. 

So  it  was;  the  fellow  was  swimming  steadily 
back  to  us.  It  was  plain  enough  to  see  that  he  was 
sorely  fatigued,  and  that  he  was  husbanding  his 
strength,  but  every  stroke  that  he  gave  was  a  steady 
stroke  and  a  true  stroke,  and  every  stroke  brought 
him  a  bit  nearer  to  where  we  lay.  And  at  last  his 
black  head  was  looking  up  at  us  beneath  our  hull, 
and  in  another  second  he  had  caught  a  rope  and  was 
on  the  deck  again,  dripping  like  a  dog,  and  hard 
pushed  for  lack  of  breath. 

Lancelot  gave  him  a  measure  of  rum  with  his 
own  hands,  and  by-and-by  his  wind  came  back  to 
him,  and  he  found  his  voice  to  speak  as  he  strug- 
gled into  his  clothes. 

What  he  had  to  tell  was  not  very  cheering.  He 
had  given  Captain  Amber  a  faithful  picture  of 
our  perils  and  our  privations,  and  Captain  Amber 
had  made  answer  that  he  was  sorry  for  us  with  all 
his  heart,  and  only  wished  that  he  was  in  the 

165 


MARJORIE 

danger  with  us.  Which  we  knew  very  well  to  be 
true,  though,  indeed,  the  good  gentleman  was  in 
scarcely  less  danger  himself. 

His  orders  to  us  were  that  we  should  with  all 
speed  construct  rafts  by  tying  together  the  planks 
of  which  we  had  abundance,  and  that  we  should 
embark  upon  these  rafts  and  so  try  to  make  the 
shallop  and  the  skiff,  which  would  bear  us  in  safety 
to  the  islands. 

It  was  not  tempting  to  make  rafts  and  trust  them 
and  ourselves  upon  them  to  the  sea  that  was  churn- 
ing and  creaming  beneath  us,  but  it  seemed  to  be 
well-nigh  the  only  thing  to  do,  and  it  was  the 
Captain's  orders,  and  we  prepared  to  set  to  work 
and  execute  his  commands.  But  we  had  scarce 
begun  to  tie  a  couple  of  planks  together  before  it 
was  plain  that  our  labour  would  be  in  vain.  For 
even  while  the  man  had  been  telling  his  tale  the 
weather  had  grown  much  rougher,  and  we  could 
see  that  the  skiff  was  unable  to  remain  longer  near 
to  us,  but  had  to  turn  back  for  her  own  safety  to 
the  islands.  I  felt  very  sure  that  Captain  Amber 
must  be  in  anguish,  having  thus  to  leave  us,  his 
dear  Lancelot  and  some  seventy  of  his  sailors  and 
followers,  on  board  a  vessel  that  might  cease  to 
be  a  vessel  at  any  moment. 

166 


RAFTS 

Now  we  were  in  very  desperate  straits  indeed, 
and  some  of  us  seemed  tempted  to  give  ourselves 
over  to  despair.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  stead- 
iness of  those  that  were  under  Lancelot,  I  feel  sure 
that  the  most  part  of  the  sailors  would  have  paid 
no  further  heed  to  Jensen's  counsels,  but  would 
have  incontinently  drunk  themselves  into  stupor  or 
madness,  and  so  perished  miserably. 

But  our  men,  if  they  were  resigned  to  their  fate, 
were  resolved  to  meet  it  like  Christians  and  stout 
fellows,  and  as  we  were  the  well-armed  party  the 
others  had,  sullenly  enough,  to  fall  in  with  our 
wishes.  And  Lancelot's  wishes  were  that  all  hands 
should  employ  themselves  still  in  the  making  of 
those  rafts,  so  that  if  the  weather  did  mend  we 
should  be  able  to  take  advantage  of  the  improve- 
ment ere  it  shifted  again.  Though  the  water  was 
beating  up  in  great  waves  all  about  us,  we  were 
so  tightly  fixed  upon  our  bank  that  we  were 
well-nigh  immovable,  and  it  was  possible  for  us 
to  work  pretty  patiently  and  persistently  through 
all  the  dirty  weather.  But  though  we  worked  hard 
and  well,  it  took  up  the  fag-end  of  that  day  and 
the  whole  of  the  next  to  get  our  two  rafts  ready 
for  the  sea,  which  was  by  that  time  more  ready 
for  them,  as  the  storm  had  again  abated. 

167 


CHAPTER   XXII 

WE  LOSE  CORNELYS  JENSEN 

IT  was  on  the  night  when  we  had  well-nigh  fin- 
ished our  two  rafts  that  a  very  unexpected  thing 
happened — a  thing  which  I  took  at  the  time  to  be 
a  piece  of  good  fortune,  but  which,  as  it  happened, 
proved  to  be  a  misfortune  for  some  of  us.  The 
unexpected  event  was,  namely,  that  we  lost  Cor- 
nelys  Jensen;  and  this  was  the  way  in  which  the 
thing  came  about. 

The  nights  during  that  spell  of  foul  weather 
were  very  dark  and  moonless,  not  because  there  was 
no  moon,  though  she  was  now  waning  into  her  last 
quarter,  but  because  of  the  quantity  of  clouds  that 
muffled  up  the  face  of  the  heavens  and  hid  the 
moon  and  the  stars  from  us.  But  we  made  shift 
as  well  as  we  could,  working  hard  all  the  time  that 
the  daylight  lasted,  and  giving  up  the  night  to  the 
rest  we  were  all  in  such  sore  need  of.  Of  course, 
the  usual  discipline  of  the  ship  was  preserved,  the 
usual  watches  set,  and  all  observed  exactly  as  if 

1 68 


WE  LOSE   CORNELYS  JENSEN 

Captain  Amber  himself  had  been  aboard,  for, 
though  the  Royal  Christopher  was  sadly  shaken, 
she  was  still  uninjured  as  to  her  inward  parts,  and 
we  were  all  able  to  sleep  under  cover  and  out  of 
the  -vay  of  wind  or  weather. 

On  the  night  before  the  weather  mended,  al- 
though it  was  not  my  watch  and  I  was  below  in 
my  cabin,  I  found  that  I  could  not  sleep.  The 
air  was  close  and  oppressive,  full  of  a  heat  that 
heralded,  though  I  did  not  know  it,  the  coming 
of  a  spell  of  fine  weather.  I  was  feverish  and  dis- 
tressed of  body,  and  tossed  for  long  enough  in  my 
hammock,  trying  very  hard  to  get  to  sleep;  but, 
though  I  was  tired  as  a  dog,  the  grace  of  sleep 
would  not  come  to  me.  At  last,  in  very  despera- 
tion, I  resolved  to  continue  the  struggle  no  longer. 
If  I  could  not  sleep  I  could  not,  and  there  was  an 
end  of  it.  I  would  go  on  deck  and  get  there  a 
little  air  to  cool  my  hot  body. 

So  up  on  deck  I  went  and  looked  about  me. 
All  was  quiet,  all  was  dark.  Here  and  there  a 
ship's  lanthorn  made  a  star  in  the  gloom ;  the  ship 
seemed  like  a  black  rock  rising  out  of  blackness. 
I  could  hear  the  tread  of  the  watch;  I  could  hear 
the  noisy  lapping  of  the  water.  There  was  no 
wind,  there  was  no  moon;  the  air  seemed  to  be 

169 


MARJORIE 

thick  and  choking.  I  felt  scarcely  more  refreshed 
than  I  had  been  in  my  cabin,  but  as  I  had  come  up 
I  thought  that  I  might  as  well  stay  up  for  a  bit 
and  have  the  benefit  of  whatever  air  there  was. 
So  I  made  my  way  cautiously  in  the  darkness  to 
the  side  of  the  vessel,  and,  leaning  upon  the  bul- 
wark, looked  out  over  the  sea,  and  fell  to  thinking 
of  Marjorie  and  of  my  love  for  her  and  all  its 
hopelessness. 

Presently  I  heard  voices.  Those  who  spoke 
drew  nearer  and  nearer  to  me,  and  I  soon  recog- 
nised the  speakers  as  Lancelot  and  Cornelys  Jensen. 
At  the  spot  where  I  was  standing  a  great  pile  of 
boxes  and  water  barrels  had  been  raised  for  transfer 
to  the  rafts,  and  I,  being  on  the  one  side  of  this 
pile,  was  invisible  to  them  as  they  approached,  and 
would  have  been  passed  unnoticed  had  the  night 
been  brighter  than  it  was.  I  could  almost  hear 
what  they  were  saying;  I  am  certain  that  I  heard 
Jensen  utter  my  name. 

I  came  out  of  the  shadow,  or  rather  out  of  my 
corner — for  it  was  all  shadow  alike — and  called 
out  Lancelot's  name.  Lancelot  called  back  to  me, 
and  then  I  heard  Jensen  wish  him  good-night  and 
turn  and  tramp  heavily  down  the  stairs  that  led 
below.  He  seemed  to  tramp  very  heavily,  heavier 

170 


WE  LOSE   CORNELYS  JENSEN 

than  was  his  wont,  for  he  was  a  light,  alert  man, 
even  when  his  biggest  sea-boots  were  on  him,  as 
I  make  no  doubt  they  now  were.  Lancelot  joined 
me,  and  I  drew  him  with  me  into  the  place  where 
I  had  been  standing,  after  first  casting  a  glance 
around  the  deck  to  see  that  no  one  was  within 
hearing.  All  seemed  deserted,  save  for  the  distant 
walk  of  the  watch.  We  leaned  over  the  bulwark 
together  and  began  to  talk. 

I  asked  him  what  Jensen  had  been  saying  to 
him.  He  told  me  that  Cornelys  had  come  to  him 
and  expressed  great  surprise  and  anger  at  the 
doubts  which  he  believed,  from  my  manner  and 
from  some  words  that  I  had  uttered,  I  entertained 
of  him.  It  seemed  that  he  had  said  again  to  Lance- 
lot what  he  had  said  to  me  about  the  flag;  that 
he  insisted  that  there  was  no  mystery  at  all  about 
the  matter,  but  that  he  was  proud  of  its  possession 
and  superstitious  as  to  its  luck,  and  that  he  never 
was  willingly  parted  from  it.  At  the  same  time 
he  offered  to  give  it  Lancelot,  as  he  had  already 
offered  to  give  it  me,  if  Lancelot  was  minded  or 
wishful  to  take  possession  of  it;  an  offer  which 
Lancelot  had  refused. 

I  could  see  from  Lancelot's  manner  that  he  was 
largely  convinced  of  the  integrity  of  Jensen,  and 

171 


MARJORIE 

I  must  confess  that  Jensen's  conduct  had  given  him 
grounds  for  confidence,  and  that  I  had  very  little 
in  the  way  of  reasonable  argument  to  shake  that 
confidence.  Still,  I  made  bold  to  be  somewhat  im- 
portunate with  Lancelot.  When  he  spoke  of  his 
uncle's  trust  in  Jensen's  integrity,  when  he  urged 
the  value  of  Jensen's  services  to  us  on  the  voyage, 
and  the  way  in  which  he  had  kept  the  sailors  under 
control  at  the  first  symptom  of  mutiny,  I  had,  it 
must  be  confessed,  little  to  say  in  reply  that  could 
seriously  damage  Jensen's  character.  But  I  was 
so  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  man's  treachery 
that  I  argued  hotly,  and  it  may  be  that  as  I  grew 
hot  I  raised  my  voice  a  trifle,  which  is  a  way  of 
mine ;  and,  indeed,  my  voice  is  never  a  good  whis- 
pering voice.  I  entreated  Lancelot,  at  all  events, 
to  have  a  very  watchful  eye  upon  Jensen,  and  I 
urged  that  on  the  first  symptom  of  anything  in  the 
least  like  double-dealing  he  should  place  Jensen 
under  arrest. 

Lancelot  listened  to  me  very  patiently.  He  was 
impressed  by  my  earnestness,  and  at  last  promised 
that  he  would  scrutinise  Jensen's  actions  very  nar- 
rowly, and  that  if  he  saw  anything  that  was  at  all 
suspicious  in  his  demeanour  he  would  immediately 
take  steps  to  render  him  harmless.  At  this  I 

172 


WE  LOSE   CORNELYS  JENSEN 

pressed  Lancelot's  hand  warmly,  and  was  about  to 
leave  him  and  go  below  when  I  fancied  that  I 
heard  steps  stealing  away  from  us  very  softly,  from 
the  other  side  of  the  pile  of  barrels  and  boxes  by 
which  we  stood.  I  whipped  out  of  my  corner  and 
round  the  pile  in  an  instant,  but  there  was  no  one 
there,  and  I  could  neither  see  nor  hear  anything 
suspicious.  Lancelot  declared  that  I  was  as  suspi- 
cious as  an  old  maid  of  her  neighbour's  hens.  I 
echoed  his  laughter  as  well  as  I  could,  but  I  went 
below  again  with  a  heavy  heart,  for  I  was  oppressed 
with  a  sense  of  danger  which  I  dreaded  the  more 
because  it  seemed  to  lurk  in  darkness.  I  had  laid 
me  down  again  with  no  very  great  hope  of  sleep, 
but  I  had  no  sooner  laid  my  head  upon  its  pillow 
than  I  fell  into  a  most  uneasy  slumber,  in  which 
all  my  apprehensions  and  all  our  perils  seemed  to 
be  multiplied  and  magnified  a  hundredfold.  A 
nightmare  terror  brooded  upon  my  breast.  Sud- 
denly I  imagined,  in  the  swift  changes  of  my  dream, 
that  we  were  sinking,  and  that  the  vessel  was  going 
to  pieces  with  great  crashes.  I  awoke  with  a  start, 
to  find  that  the  noises  of  my  dream  were  being  con- 
tinued into  my  waking  life.  The  deck  above  was 
noisy  with  trampling  feet  and  confused  cries.  For 
a  moment  I  sat  up,  dizzy  with  surprise,  and  unable 

173 


MARJORIE 

to  realise  whether  I  was  awake  or  asleep.  Then 
I  pulled  my  wits  together,  and  was  on  deck  in  a 
trice. 

I  caught  hold  of  a  sailor  who  was  hurrying 
rapidly  by,  and  asked  him  what  was  the  matter. 
He  answered  me  that  there  was  a  man  overboard, 
and  that  they  were  doing  all  they  could  to  save 
him  by  casting  over  the  side  spars  and  timbers  that 
would  float,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  be  able  to 
catch  one  of  them.  The  deck  was  all  confusion, 
men  running  hither  and  thither,  and  some  hang- 
ing over  the  bulwarks  and  peering  into  the  dark- 
ness, in  the  vain  hope  of  catching  a  glimpse  of  their 
drowning  comrade.  We  had  not  a  boat  to  lower, 
save  only  the  little  dinghy,  which  would  not  have 
lived  a  minute  in  such  a  sea. 

When  I  found  somebody  who  could  tell  me 
what  had  happened  this  was  what  I  learnt.  A  man 
had  fallen  overboard;  the  watch  had  heard  the 
splash  as  the  body  fell  into  the  water,  and  a  wild 
cry  that  followed  upon  the  splash;  a  sailor  had 
shouted  out  his  warning  of  'Man  overboard!'  and 
the  cry  had  roused  the  whole  ship.  Up  to  this 
point  nobody  seemed  to  have  any  idea  who  the 
missing  man  was,  but  when  Lancelot,  who  was  im- 
mediately on  deck,  though  he  had  but  just  gone  to 


WE  LOSE   CORNELYS  JENSEN 

lie  down,  had  commanded  silence,  and  the  men 
were  gathered  about  him  on  the  deck,  the  sailor 
who  had  first  made  the  alarm  was  found  and  ques- 
tioned. This  sailor  said  that  he  saw  a  man  stand- 
ing at  the  vessel's  side  at  a  place  where,  when  the 
mast  fell,  the  bulwark  had  been  torn  away  and  had 
left  a  gaping  wound  in  the  ship's  railings;  that  as 
he,  surprised  at  seeing  a  man  there,  came  nearer  to 
try  and  ascertain  what  he  was  doing,  the  man  stag- 
gered, flung  up  his  arms — here  the  man  who  was 
narrating  these  things  to  us  flung  up  his  hands  in 
imitation — and  then  went  over  the  side  with  a  great 
splash  and  a  great  cry.  He  believed  that  the  man 
was  none  other  than  Cornelys  Jensen. 

When  Lancelot  and  I  heard  the  name  of  Cor- 
nelys Jensen  upon  the  man's  lips  we  looked  invol- 
untarily at  each  other,  and  I  make  certain  that  we 
both  grew  pale.  That  the  man  of  whom  we  had 
been  talking  not  an  hour  before  in  such  different 
terms  should  have  thus  suddenly  been  taken  out 
of  our  lives  came  like  a  shock  to  us  both.  Further 
investigation  confirmed  the  accuracy  of  the  man's 
statement.  The  roll  was  called  over,  and  every 
man  answered  to  his  name  except  Cornelys  Jensen. 
His  cabin  was  at  once  searched,  but  he  was  not  in 
it,  and  it  was  evident  that  he  had  made  no  attempt 

175 


MARJORIE 

to  sleep  there  that  night,  for  his  hammock  was 
undisturbed.  On  the  table  lay  a  folded  sheet  of 
paper,  which  Lancelot  took  up  and  opened.  It 
contained  only  these  words:  'Your  doubts  have 
driven  me  to  despair.'  These  words  had  apparently 
been  followed  by  some  other  words,  the  beginning 
of  a  fresh  sentence,  but,  whatever  they  were,  they 
were  so  scrawled  over  with  the  pen  that  their  mean- 
ing was  as  effectually  blotted  out  as  if  they  had 
never  been  written. 

Of  course,  all  efforts  to  rescue  the  unhappy  man 
were  unavailing.  There  was  really  nothing  that 
we  could  do  save  to  cast  pieces  of  spar  and  plank 
overboard  in  the  faint  hope  that  some  one  of  them 
might  come  in  the  drowning  man's  way  and  enable 
him  to  keep  afloat  till  daylight,  if  by  any  chance 
his  purpose  of  self-slaughter — for  so  it  seemed 
to  me — had  changed  with  his  souse  into  the  water. 
The  night  was  pitchy  black,  and  the  waves  were 
running  a  tremendous  pace,  so  that  there  really 
seemed  to  be  little  likelihood  of  the  strongest  swim- 
mer keeping  himself  long  afloat;  but  we  did  our 
best  and  hoped  our  hardest,  even  those  of  us  who, 
like  myself,  disliked  and  distrusted  Cornelys  Jensen 
profoundly. 

Though  Lancelot  said  little  to  Marjorie  beyond 
176 


WE  LOSE   CORNELYS  JENSEN 

the  bare  news  of  what  had  happened  I  could  see 
that  he  took  the  disappearance  of  Jensen  and  that 
little  scrawl  we  found  in  his  cabin  badly  to  heart. 
He  was  convinced  at  once  that  Jensen  had  com- 
mitted suicide,  driven  thereto  by  the  suspicions  that 
we  had  formed  of  him;  and,  indeed,  though  I  tried 
to  console  Lancelot  as  well  as  I  could,  it  did  look 
very  like  it,  and  I  must  confess  that  I  felt  a  little 
guilty.  For  though  I  still  thought  that  the  grounds 
upon  which  I  had  formed  my  suspicions  of  the  man 
were  reasonable  grounds,  and  justified  all  my  ap- 
prehensions, still  I  could  not  resist  an  uncomfort- 
able feeling  that  perhaps,  after  all,  I  might  have 
misjudged  the  man,  and  that  in  any  case  I  was  the 
instrument — the  unwitting  instrument,  but  still  the 
instrument  none  the  less — of  sending  a  fellow- 
creature  before  his  Maker  with  the  stigma  of  self- 
slaughter  upon  his  soul.  So  certainly  Lancelot  and 
I  passed  a  very  unhappy  night,  what  there  was  left 
of  it;  and  when  the  dawn  came  we  scanned  the 
sea  anxiously  in  the  faint  hope  that  we  might  see 
something  of  the  missing  man.  But,  though  the 
sea  was  far  quieter  than  it  had  been  for  many  hours, 
there  was  no  trace  of  any  floating  body  upon  it, 
and  it  became  only  too  clear  to  our  minds  that, 
for  some  cause  or  other,  Cornelys  Jensen  had  in- 

177 


MARJORIE 

deed  killed  himself.  I  could  only  imagine  that  the 
man  was  really  crazed,  although  we  did  not  dream 
of  such  a  thing,  and  that  the  perils  and  privations 
through  which  we  had  passed,  and  against  which 
he  seemed  to  bear  such  a  bold  front,  had  in  fact 
completed  the  unhinging  of  his  wits,  and  that  my 
accusations,  acting  upon  a  weakened  mind,  had 
driven  him  in  his  frenzy  to  destroy  himself.  To 
be  quite  candid,  though  I  was  sufficiently  sorry  for 
the  man,  I  was  still  dogged  enough  in  my  own 
opinion  of  his  character  as  to  think  that,  if  it  was 
the  will  of  Providence  that  he  should  so  perish,  at 
all  events  the  Royal  Christopher  was  no  loser  by 
his  loss. 


178 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

WE  GET  TO  THE  ISLAND 

EVEN  if  we  had  lost  a  better  man  than  Jensen  it 
would  have  been  our  duty  none  the  less  to  work 
hard  the  next  day  to  get  our  rafts  ready  and  fit 
for  sea.  Very  few  men  are  indispensable  to  their 
fellows,  and  certainly,  as  far  as  making  the  rafts 
was  concerned,  it  would  have  been  far  more  serious 
if  Abraham  Janes,  the  carpenter,  had  taken  it  into 
his  head  to  throw  himself  overboard  than  that 
Cornelys  Jensen  had  taken  it  into  his  head  to 
do  so.  Yet,  in  a  manner,  too,  we  missed  Cor- 
nelys Jensen.  He  was  an  able  man,  full  of  all 
kinds  of  knowledge,  and  he  had  a  domineering  way 
with  the  seamen  which  they  seemed  to  recognise 
and  to  obey  unflinchingly.  These  fellows,  for  the 
most  part,  took  the  tidings  of  his  death  very  indif- 
ferently. Some  of  them  seemed  to  miss  him  as 
a  trained  dog  might  miss  his  master.  Some,  again, 
seemed  scarcely  to  miss  him  at  all.  One  or  two, 
especially  the  fellow  who  saw  the  death  and 
179 


MARJORIE 

the  manner  of  it,  seemed  to  take  the  matter  very 
greatly  to  heart,  and  to  go  about  with  a  sad  brow 
and  a  sullen  eye  in  consequence. 

As  for  Lancelot  and  myself,  I  must  say  that  we 
soon  grew  to  accept  his  loss  with  composure. 
There  was  so  much  to  do  that  there  would  have 
been  little  time  for  a  greater  grief  than  either  of 
us  could  honestly  wear.  The  weather  was  mend- 
ing hourly,  and  the  rafts  were  making  rapid  prog- 
ress. By  the  end  of  that  day  they  were  finished 
and  ready  for  the  sea. 

By  this  time,  so  strange  are  the  chops  and  changes 
of  the  weather  in  that  part  of  the  world,  the  sea 
and  sky  were  as  gentle  as  on  a  summer's  day.  I 
have  heard  the  phrase  'as  smooth  as  a  mill-pond' 
applied  to  salt  water  many  a  thousand  times,  but 
never,  indeed,  with  so  much  truth  as  if  it  had  been 
applied  to  the  ocean  that  day.  It  lay  all  around 
us,  one  tranquillity  of  blue,  and  above  it  the  heavens 
were  domed  with  an  azure  fretted  here  and  there 
with  fleeces  of  clouds,  even  as  the  water  was  fretted 
here  and  there  with  laces  of  foam.  In  the  clear  air 
we  could  see  the  islands  ahead  of  us  sharply  dark 
against  the  sky,  and  as  we  watched  them  our  long- 
ing to  be  at  them,  to  tread  dry  land  again,  was 
so  great  as  to  be  almost  unbearable.  Those  who 

1 80 


WE  GET  TO  THE   ISLAND 

have  lived  on  shore  all  their  lives  can  form  little 
or  no  idea  of  the  way  in  which  the  thoughts  of  a 
man  who  is  tasting  the  terrors  of  shipwreck  for 
the  first  time  turn  to  a  visible  land,  and  how  they 
burn  within  him  for  longing  to  walk  upon  turf  or 
highway  once  again  in  his  jeopardised  life. 

Now,  the  rafts  that  we  had  constructed  were  by 
no  means  ill-fashioned.  That  ship's  carpenter, 
Abraham  Janes,  was  a  man  of  great  parts  in  his 
trade.  I  never  in  my  life  saw  a  handier  man  at 
his  tools  or  a  defter  at  devices  of  all  kinds.  The 
poor  old  Royal  Christopher  had  timber  enough 
and  to  spare  for  the  planks  that  were  to  make  our 
rafts,  and  we  had  a  great  plenty  of  idle  rope  aboard 
in  the  rigging  wherewith  our  fallen  mast  was  en- 
tangled. So  there  was  no  lack  of  material,  and 
when  our  men  saw  that  there  was  really  and 
truly  a  prospect  of  escape  there  was  no  lack 
of  willing  hands  to  work.  So  by  the  end  of  the 
time  I  have  already  specified  we  had  two  large  and 
serviceable  rafts  ready  to  try  their  fortunes  upon 
the  ocean  that  was  now  so  tempting  in  its  calm. 

It  was  a  matter  of  some  little  surprise  to  us  who 
were  on  board  the  ship  that  with  the  calm  weather 
Captain  Amber  made  no  further  attempt  to  come 
out  to  us.  But  there  was  no  sign  of  a  sail  upon 

181 


MARJORIE 

the  water,  although  we  watched  it  eagerly 
through  the  spy-glass;  and  we  were  sorely  puz- 
zled to  imagine  what  could  have  happened  to 
our  leader,  for  that  he  could  be  forgetful  of  or 
indifferent  to  our  danger  it  was  impossible  to  be- 
lieve. 

The  rafts  being  now  ready  and  the  weather  so 
propitious,  nothing  was  left  for  us  but  to  commit 
them,  with  ourselves  and  all  our  belongings,  to  the 
water,  in  the  hope  of  making  the  shore  with  them. 
They  were  each  of  them  capable  of  holding  our 
whole  number  and  a  quantity  of  such  stores  as  were 
left  on  board.  These  latter,  therefore,  divided 
into  two  equal  parts,  we  proceeded  to  put  upon  the 
rafts  as  quickly  as  we  could,  together  with  as 
many  barrels  of  water  as  we  had.  Each  of  the 
rafts  carried  a  stout  mast  and  sail,  and  in  the 
absence  of  any  wind  could  be  propelled  slowly 
over  such  a  smooth  water  as  that  which  now  lay 
around  us  by  means  of  oars.  The  stores  and  water 
barrels  we  adjusted  in  such  a  way  as  to  preserve 
as  nicely  as  might  be  the  balance  of  the  rafts. 

We  effected  the  transfer  of  our  stores  and  pro- 
visions with  very  little  difficulty,  and  embarked  all 
our  party,  also  without  any  difficulty  whatever.  In 
obedience  to  Lancelot's  resolution,  which  he  had 

182 


WE  GET  TO  THE   ISLAND 

privately  communicated  to  me  beforehand,  we  di- 
vided our  forces  into  two  parties.  That  is  to  say, 
half  of  the  sailors  were  set  on  each  raft,  and  with 
each  raft  half  of  our  armed  men;  for  though  we 
had  little  or  no  apprehension  now  that  there  would 
be  any  trouble  with  the  sailors,  we  still  deemed  it 
best  to  let  them  see  very  plainly  that  we  were  and 
meant  to  be  the  masters.  I  went  on  the  one  raft, 
Lancelot — and  of  course  Marjorie  with  him — 
upon  the  other,  and  when  all  was  ready  we  pushed 
away  from  the  Royal  Christopher  and  trusted  our- 
selves and  our  fortunes  to  our  new  equipages. 

There  was  happily  little  danger,  even  little  dif- 
ficulty, about  the  enterprise.  The  rafts  were  well 
made;  they  rode  on  the  waters  like  corks.  What 
little  wind  there  was  blew  towards  the  islands,  and 
the  sea  was  as  placid  as  a  lake,  so  that  the  men  could 
use  their  big  oars  easily  enough.  It  was  indeed 
slow  work  to  paddle  these  great  rafts  along,  but 
it  was  quite  unadventurous,  so  that  I  have  little  or 
nothing  to  record  of  note  concerning  our  journey. 
Little  by  little  the  Royal  Christopher  grew  smaller 
and  smaller  behind  us,  with  her  great  mast  sticking 
out  so  sadly  over  her  side ;  little  by  little  the  island 
loomed  larger  and  larger  on  our  view.  At  last, 
after  a  couple  of  hours  that  were  the  most  pleasur- 

183 


MARJORIE 

able  we  had  passed  for  many  days,  we  came  close 
to  the  island,  and  could  see  that  the  colonists  were 
all  crowded  together  upon  the  beach,  waiting  to 
receive  us. 

The  island  was  very  large,  rocky,  and  thickly 
wooded,  and  the  coast  was  rocky  too,  and  the  water 
very  shoaly,  which  made  me  understand  how  diffi- 
cult landing  must  have  been  in  the  stormy  weather. 
But  now,  with  the  sea  so  fair  and  the  weather  so 
fine,  we  had  little  or  no  difficulty  in  getting  ashore, 
and  with  the  eager  assistance  of  the  colonists  were 
soon  able  to  effect  the  landing  of  all  our  stores  and 
belongings. 

Our  first  great  surprise  on  our  arrival  was  to 
see  no  sight  of  Captain  Amber  amongst  those  who 
were  gathered  upon  the  beach  to  receive  us.  But 
his  absence  was  soon  explained  in  reply  to  our 
anxious  inquiries.  It  seemed  that  a  great  spirit  of 
discontent  prevailed  among  the  colonists  upon  that 
island,  and  that  they  upbraided  Captain  Amber 
very  bitterly  for  being  the  cause  of  their  misfort- 
unes: as  is  the  way  with  weak-spirited  creatures, 
who  have  not  the  heart  to  bear  a  common  misfort- 
une courageously.  To  make  a  long  story  short, 
they  insisted  that  he  must  needs  endeavour  to  find 
some  means  of  rescue  for  them  by  getting  into  the 

184 


WE  GET  TO  THE   ISLAND 

sea  track  and  persuading  some  ship  to  come  to  their 
aid  and  take  them  from  the  island;  which  certainly 
was  a  disconsolate  place  enough,  especially  for 
people  who  were  always  ready  to  make  a  poor 
mouth  over  everything  that  did  not  please  them. 
As  the  sailors  who  were  with  Captain  Amber  sided 
with  the  colonists  in  this  matter,  he  had  no  choice 
but  to  consent;  and  as  his  vessel  was  fairly  sea- 
worthy, he  and  his  people  had  departed,  in  the 
hope  of  meeting  some  ship  to  bring  all  succour. 
Captain  Marmaduke  was,  it  seems,  most  loath  to 
depart  while  we  were  in  such  a  plight  on  board  of 
the  Royal  Christopher;  but  there  was  no  help  for 
it,  for  his  men  were  almost  in  open  mutiny,  and 
would  have  carried  him  on  board  would  he  or  no. 
So  he  had  sailed  away  and  the  colonists  were  all 
hopeful,  in  their  silly,  simple  way,  that  he  would 
soon  return  in  a  great  ship  and  carry  them  to  a  land 
as  lovely  as  a  dream,  where  all  their  wishes  would 
be  fulfilled  for  the  asking,  and  where  each  man 
would  have  his  bellyful  of  good  things  without  the 
working  for  it.  For  that  was,  it  seems,  the  notion 
most  of  these  fellows  had  in  their  heads  of  poor 
Captain  Amber's  Utopia. 

I  had  begun  to  perceive  by  this  time  that  a  very 
large  number  of  those  that  had  come  out  with  Cap- 

185 


MARJORIE 

tain  Amber  aboard  of  the  Royal  Christopher  were 
but  weak-spirited  creatures,  and  such  as  might  be 
called  fair-weather  friends.  So  long  as  all  was 
going  well  and  there  was  a  prospect  before  them 
of  a  prosperous  future  and  everything  they  wanted, 
they  were  supple  enough  and  loud  to  laud  the  good 
gentleman  who  was  conveying  them  to  comfort. 
But  with  the  break  in  our  luck  their  praises  and 
their  patience  went  in  a  whiff,  and  they  showed 
themselves  to  be  such  a  parcel  of  wrong-headed, 
grumbling,  disheartened  and  dispiriting  knaves  as 
ever  helped  to  shake  a  good  man's  courage.  They 
were  as  ready  to  imprecate  Captain  Amber  now  as 
they  had  been  to  load  him  with  praises  before,  and 
in  this  they  were  supported  by  all  the  worser  sort 
— and  these  were  the  greater  part — among  the 
sailors  that  had  stayed  with  the  colonists.  But 
with  Lancelot's  arrival  upon  the  island  he  soon  put 
a  stop  to  all  loudly  expressed  grumbling — or  at 
least  to  all  grumbling  that  was  loudly  expressed 
in  his  hearing.  There  were  some  good  fellows 
amongst  the  colonists,  and  the  old  soldiers  were 
staunch  and  sturdy  fellows,  who  adored  Captain 
Amber,  and  Lancelot  after  him.  So,  as  we  had 
these  with  us,  we  made  the  grumblers  keep  civil 
tongues  in  their  heads,  aye  and  work  too  to  the 

1 86 


WE  GET  TO  THE   ISLAND 

bettering  of  our  conditions.  The  first  party  had 
made  themselves  some  huts  and  now  we  made  more 
for  ourselves  who  were  new-comers,  with  tents  of 
a  kind  out  of  sail-cloth  that  we  had  brought  from 
the  ship,  and  for  Lancelot  a  large  double  hut  cov- 
ered with  some  of  this  same  cloth  for  him  and 
Marjorie  to  dwell  in.  And,  Lord !  what  a  joy  it  was 
to  see  how  Marjorie  bestirred  herself  making  her- 
self as  good  a  lieutenant  to  Lancelot  as  Captain's 
heart  could  desire.  But  we  were  all  so  busy  that 
in  those  hours  on  that  island  I  seldom  had  speech 
with  her,  for  my  care  was  chiefly  with  those  discon- 
tented and  weaklings  who  were  so  eager  to  com- 
plain and  make  mischief. 

It  seemed  to  me  then  that  the  best  man  of  all 
that  pack  was  the  woman  Barbara  Hatchett.  For 
while  the  colonists  were  making  poor  mouths  over 
their  plight  and  piping  as  querulously  as  sparrows 
after  rain,  and  while  the  sailors  were  for  the  most 
part  sour  and  sullen,  Barbara  took  her  lot  with 
cheerfulness,  and  had  smiles  and  smooth  words  for 
everybody  and  everything.  She  had  even  smiles 
and  smooth  words  with  me,  who  had  exchanged 
no  speech  with  her  beyond  forced  greeting  for  this 
many  a  day.  For  she  came  up  to  me  laughing  once, 
at  a  time  when  I  stood  alone  and  was,  indeed,  think- 

187 


MARJORIE 

ing  of  Marjorie  who  was  busy  in  her  hut  at  some 
task  that  Lancelot  had  set  her.  Barbara  began  to 
banter  with  me  in  a  way  that  seemed  strange  with 
her,  saying  that  I  was  fickle  like  all  my  sex,  that  I 
was  sighing  for  fair  hair  now,  who  had  doted  on 
black  locks  a  few  years  ago,  and  much  more  idle 
talk  to  the  same  want  of  purpose.  At  last  she 
asked  me  bluntly  if  I  had  loved  her  once,  and  when 
I  answered  yes,  she  asked  me  if  I  loved  her  still, 
now  that  she  was  a  married  woman;  and  without 
giving  me  time  to  answer  she  said  that  she  had  a 
kindness  for  me,  and  would  do  me  a  good  turn  yet 
for  the  sake  of  old  days  when  she  came  to  be  queen. 

I  was  vexed  with  her  for  the  vanity  and  impor- 
tunity of  her  mirth,  and  to  stop  her  words  I 
asked  her  bluntly  if  she  had  ever  seen  a  black  flag. 
But  my  question  had  no  effect  to  disconcert  her 
gaiety. 

'You  mean  the  black  flag  of  poor  Jensen?'  she 
said;  and  when  I  nodded  she  began  to  pity  Jensen 
for  his  belief  in  his  trophy,  which,  after  all,  had 
brought  him  no  more  luck  than  a  sea  grave;  and 
then  she  went  on  with  shrillish  laughter  to  tell  me 
that  she  had  begged  it  of  him  to  give  her  to  make 
into  a  petticoat,  'For  it  would  have  made  a  bonny 
petticoat,  would  it  not  ?'  she  said  suddenly,  coming 

188 


WE   GET  TO  THE   ISLAND 

to  a  sharp  end  and  looking  me  earnestly  in  the 
face. 

I  was  at  a  loss  what  to  say,  being  so  flustered  by 
her  carriage  and  her  words,  which  seemed  to  make 
it  plain  to  me  that  I  had  sorely  misjudged  the  dead 
man.  But  I  said  nothing,  and  moved  a  little  way 
from  her;  and  she,  seeing  my  disinclination, 
laughed  again,  and  then  'God  blessed'  me  with  a 
vehemence  and  earnestness  that,  as  I  thought, 
meant  me  more  harm  than  good.  But  after  that 
she  turned  and  went  back  to  the  rest  of  the  women, 
and  I  could  see  her  going  from  one  to  the  other, 
soothing  and  comforting  them,  and  showing  them 
how  to  make  the  best  of  their  bitter  commons  on 
the  island.  And  as  I  watched  her  I  wondered ;  but 
I  had  little  time  for  watching  or  for  wondering. 


189 


CHAPTER  XXIV] 

FAIR   ISLAND 

FOR  the  nonce  I  will  make  bold  to  leave  Captain 
Marmaduke  sailing  the  seas  and  to  occupy  myself 
solely  with  the  fate  of  those  who  were  encamped 
on  the  island,  and  chiefly  of  Marjorie  and  Lance- 
lot and  thereby  myself  who  had  the  good  fortune 
to  be  with  them  to  the  end  of  the  enterprise.  And, 
oh,  as  I  think  of  Marjorie  in  those  days  it  is  ever 
with  fresh  wonder  and  delight  and  infinite  grati- 
tude to  Heaven  for  the  privilege  to  have  seen  her. 
She  seemed  just  a  boy  with  boys,  she  with  Lancelot 
and  me,  and  she  wore  her  boyish  weed  with  a  simple 
straightforward  ease  that  made  it  somehow  seem 
the  most  right  and  natural  thing  in  the  world. 
But  that  was  ever  her  way ;  whatever  she  did  seemed 
fit  and  good,  and  that  not  merely  to  my  eyes  who 
loved  her,  but,  as  I  think,  to  most.  And  she  was 
very  helpful  in  mind  and  body,  always  eager  to 
bear  her  share  in  any  work  that  was  toward,  and  in 
council  advising  wisely  without  assertion.  It  might 
seem  at  first  blush  a  handicap  for  adventurers  to 


FAIR    ISLAND 

have  a  girl  on  their  hands,  but  we  did  not  find  it 
so,  only  always,  save  for  the  peril  in  which  the 
maid  was,  a  gain  and  blessing.  And  so  to  our 
fortunes.  You  must  know  that  from  the  further 
coast  of  our  island — the  further  from  our  wreck, 
I  mean — we  could  discern  the  outlines  of  other 
islands,  the  nearest  of  which  appeared  to  be  within 
but  a  few  hours'  sail.  It  was  plain,  therefore,  that 
we  were,  very  fortunately  for  us,  cast  away  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  a  considerable  archipelago,  and 
that  we  had  every  reason  on  the  whole  to  rejoice 
at  our  condition  instead  of  bewailing  it. 

Now,  though  the  island  we  were  on  was  in  many 
ways  fair  and  commodious,  we  were  not  without 
confidence  that  another  island,  which  lay  a  little 
further  off,  as  it  might  be  a  couple  of  hours'  sail, 
would  serve  us  even  in  better  stead,  and  at  least 
we  resolved  to  explore  it.  So  Lancelot  and  Mar- 
jorie  and  I,  with  some  thirty  of  our  own  men,  re- 
solved to  cross  over  in  the  shallop  boat  which  had 
conveyed  the  first  party  to  the  island  while  the 
weather  was  still  fair,  taking  with  us  a  great  plenty 
of  arms  and  implements,  canvas  and  abundance  of 
provisions,  as  well  as  a  quantity  of  lights  and  fire- 
works, which  we  had  saved  from  the  ship,  and 
which  Lancelot  thought  might  be  useful  for  many 


MARJORIE 

purposes.  It  was  agreed  between  us  and  the  col- 
onists that  if  we  found  the  new  island  better  than 
the  old  we  were  to  make  great  bonfires,  the  smoke 
of  which  could  not  fail  to  be  seen  from  the  first 
island,  or  Early  Island,  as  we  came  to  call  it.  This 
they  should  take  as  a  signal  to  come  with  all  speed 
to  the  new  camping-ground. 

You  must  not  think  it  strange  that  we  set  out 
upon  this  expedition  thoughtlessly  and  leaving  the 
other  folk  unprotected.  For,  in  the  first  place, 
there  were  a  goodly  number  of  the  colonists — as 
many  in  number  as  the  sailors;  and,  in  the  second 
place,  the  sailors  were  not  so  well  armed  as  many 
of  the  colonists  were,  having  nothing  but  their 
knives  and  a  few  axes.  Furthermore,  as  Cornelys 
Jensen  was  not  among  them,  and  as  it  seemed  most 
unlikely  that  the  purpose,  if  purpose  he  had,  would 
hold  with  his  fellows  now  that  there  was,  as  it  were, 
no  ship  to  seize,  we  felt  that  there  could  be  no 
danger  to  our  companions  in  leaving  them  while 
we  went  on  our  voyage  of  exploration.  So  you  will 
please  to  bear  in  mind  how  matters  now  stood. 
There  was  Captain  Marmaduke  in  the  skiff,  who 
had  sailed  away  from  us  to  seek  succour  for  us  all. 
There  was  on  the  island  with  which  we  had  first 
made  acquaintance  the  majority  of  our  colonists — 

192 


FAIR    ISLAND 

men,  women  and  children,  together  with  the  greater 
part  of  the  sailors — under  the  authority  of  Hatch- 
ett.  There  were,  further,  Lancelot  and  Marjorie 
and  myself  and  our  thirty  men,  who  had  gone  off 
in  the  shallop  to  explore  the  adjacent  islands  in  the 
hope  of  finding  a  better  resting-place  for  our  whole 
party.  As  for  Cornelys  Jensen,  I  took  him  to  be 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

We  had  arranged  that  during  our  absence  the 
administration  of  the  colony  should  be  vested  in 
a  council,  of  whom  the  Reverend  Mr.  Ebrow  was 
one  and  Hatchett  another,  for,  as  the  leading  man 
among  sailors,  he  could  not  be  overlooked,  and  I 
mistrusted  him  no  more  now  that  Jensen  was  gone. 
Certain  of  the  soldierly  men  and  two  or  three  of 
the  most  cool-headed  amongst  the  colonists  made 
up  the  total  of  this  council,  whose  only  task  would 
be  to  apportion  the  fair  share  of  labour  to  each 
man  in  making  the  island  as  habitable  a  place  as 
might  be  till  our  return.  For,  after  all,  it  was  by 
no  means  certain  that  we  should  have  better  luck 
with  the  near  island,  and  in  any  case  it  was  well  to 
be  prepared  for  all  emergencies. 

It  was  late  on  the  second  day  of  our  arrival  at 
the  island  that  Lancelot  and  Marjorie  and  I  with 
our  companions  set  off  on  our  expedition.  We  fol- 


MARJORIE 

lowed  the  coast-line  of  our  island  a  long  while, 
keeping  a  sufficiently  wide  berth  for  fear  of  the 
shoals.  When  we  had  half  circumnavigated  it 
there  lay  ahead  of  us  the  island  for  which  we  were 
making.  It  lay  a  good  way  off,  and,  as  the  day 
was  very  fine  and  still,  it  seemed  nearer  to  us  than 
it  proved  to  be.  As  far  as  we  could  judge  at  that 
distance,  it  seemed  to  be  a  very  much  larger  island 
than  the  one  which  we  had  just  left;  and  so  indeed 
it  proved  to  be. 

The  shallop  was  a  serviceable  vessel,  and  ran 
bravely  before  the  wind  on  the  calm  sea.  Had 
the  wind  been  fully  in  our  favour  we  should  have 
made  the  island  for  which  we  were  steering  within 
the  hour;  but  it  blew  slightly  across  our  course, 
compelling  us  to  tack  and  change  our  course  often, 
so  that  it  was  a  good  two  hours  before  we  were 
close  to  our  goal.  When  we  came  close  enough 
we  saw  that  the  island  seemed  in  all  respects  to  be 
a  more  delectable  spot  than  that  island  on  which 
chance  had  first  cast  us.  There  was  a  fine  natural 
bay,  with  a  strand  of  a  fine,  white,  and  sparkling 
sand  such  as  recalled  to  me  the  aspect  of  many  of 
the  little  bays  and  creeks  in  the  coast  beyond  Sen- 
dennis,  and  in  the  recollection  brought  the  tears  into 
my  mouth,  not  into  my  eyes.  From  this  strand  we 

194 


FAIR    ISLAND 

could  see  that  the  land  ran  up  in  a  gentle  elevation 
that  was  very  thickly  wooded.  Beyond  this  again 
rose  in  undulating  succession  several  high  hills,  that 
might  almost  be  regarded  as  little  mountains,  and 
these  also  seemed  to  be  densely  clothed  with  trees. 
Marjorie  declared  that  the  place  looked  in  its  soft 
greenness  and  the  clean  whiteness  of  its  shore  a 
kind  of  Earthly  Paradise,  and  indeed  our  hearts 
went  out  to  it.  I  found  afterwards,  from  conversa- 
tion with  my  companions,  that  every  man  of  us 
felt  convinced  on  our  first  close  sight  of  Fair  Island, 
as  we  afterwards  called  it,  that  we  should  find  there 
abundance  of  water  and  all  things  that  we  needed 
which  could  reasonably  be  hoped  for. 

We  came,  after  a  little  coasting,  to  a  small  and 
sheltered  creek,  into  which  it  was  quite  easy  to  carry 
our  vessel.  The  creek  ran  some  little  way  inland, 
with  deep  water  for  some  distance,  so  here  we 
beached  the  shallop  and  got  off  and  looked  about 
us. 

Although  by  this  time  the  day  was  grown  some- 
what old,  we  were  determined  to  do  at  least  a 
measure  of  exploring  then  and  there,  and  ascertain 
some,  at  least,  of  the  resources  of  our  new  territory. 
There  was,  of  course,  the  possibility  that  we  might 
meet  with  wild  animals  or  with  still  wilder  savages, 

195 


MARJORIE 

but  we  did  not  feel  very  much  alarm  about  either 
possibility.  For  we  were  a  fairly  large  party;  we 
were  all  well  armed,  and  well  capable  of  using  our 
weapons.  Each  of  us  carried  pistols  and  a  hanger, 
Marjorie  with  the  rest,  she  being  as  skilful  in  their 
use  as  any  lad  of  her  age  might  be.  For  my  own 
part  I  always  wore  in  my  coat  pocket  a  little  pistol 
Lancelot  had  given  me,  that  looked  like  a  toy,  but 
was  a  marvel  of  mechanism  and  precision.  Weap- 
oned  as  we  were,  we  had  come,  moreover,  into  that 
kind  of  confidence  which  comes  to  those  who  have 
just  passed  unscathed  through  grave  peril,  a  con- 
fidence which  is,  as  it  were,  a  second  wind  of  cour- 
age. 

It  would  not  do,  of  course,  to  leave  our  boat  un- 
protected, so  it  was  necessary  to  tell  off  by  lot  a 
certain  number  of  our  men  to  stay  with  it  and  guard 
it.  All  the  men  were  so  eager  for  exploration  that 
those  upon  whom  the  lots  fell  to  remain  behind 
with  the  shallop  made  rather  wry  faces ;  but  Lance- 
lot cheered  them  by  telling  them  that  theirs  was  a 
position  to  the  full  as  honourable  as  that  of  ex- 
plorers, and  that  in  any  case  those  who  looked 
after  the  boat  one  day  should  be  relieved  and  go 
with  the  exploring  party  on  the  next  day,  turn  and 
turn  about. 

196 


FAIR    ISLAND 

This  satisfied  them,  and  they  settled  down  to 
their  duty  in  content.  It  was  agreed  upon  that  in 
case  of  any  danger  or  any  attack,  whether  by  sav- 
ages or  by  wild  beasts — for  in  those  parts  of  the 
world  there  might  well  be  monstrous  and  warlike 
creatures — they  were  to  make  an  alarm  by  blowing 
upon  a  horn  which  we  had  with  us,  and  by  firing  a 
shot.  It  was  to  be  their  task  while  we  were  away 
to  prepare  a  fire  for  our  evening  meal.  We  had 
our  supply  of  provisions  and  of  water  with  us,  but 
those  of  us  who  were  to  explore  had  very  good 
hopes  that  we  should  bring  back  to  the  skiff  not 
merely  the  good  news  that  we  had  found  water,  but 
also  something  in  the  way  of  food  for  our  supper. 
Lancelot,  for  one,  expressed  his  confidence  that 
there  must  be  game  of  various  kinds  in  so  thickly 
a  wooded  place,  and  when  Lancelot  expressed  an 
opinion  I  and  the  others  with  me  always  listened 
to  it  like  Gospel. 

Luckily  for  us,  we  soon  found  one  and  then  an- 
other spring  of  fresh  water.  But  it  took  us  a  mat- 
ter of  three  days  to  explore  that  island  thoroughly, 
for  it  was  very  hilly,  and  in  many  parts  the  woods 
were  well-nigh  impenetrable  in  spite  of  our  axes. 
Most  of  the  trees  and  shrubs  had  at  this  time  either 
blossoms  or  berries  on  them,  red,  white,  and  yel- 

197 


MARJORIE 

low,  that  filled  the  air  with  sweet  and  pungent 
odours.  It  was  a  large  island,  and  on  the  other  side 
of  the  ridge  of  hills  which  rose  up  so  sharply  from 
the  place  where  we  first  landed  the  land  stretched 
almost  level  for  a  considerable  distance  before  it 
dropped  again  in  low  cliffs  to  the  sea.  Part  of 
this  plain  was  grass-grown  land,  not  unlike  English 
down  land,  but  in  other  parts  the  grass  grew  in 
great  tufts  as  big  as  a  bush,  intermixed  with  much 
heath,  such  as  we  have  on  our  commons  in  England ; 
part  of  it  was  thickly  grown  with  all  manner  of 
bright  flowers  and  creeping  plants,  that  knotted 
themselves  together  in  such  an  entanglement  that 
it  was  very  hard  to  cut  a  path.  We  had  need  to 
go  carefully  here,  for  suspicion  of  snakes.  We 
found  no  sign  of  savage  wild  beasts,  though  of 
harmless  ones  there  were  plenty,  some  of  which 
made  very  good  meat.  As  for  savages,  we  saw 
none;  and  as  far  as  we  could  make  out  we  were 
the  only  human  beings  upon  the  island.  Yet  Lance- 
lot, who  was  wonderfully  quick  at  noting  things, 
thought  that  he  detected  signs  here  and  there  which 
went  to  show  that  we  were  not  the  first  men  who 
had  ever  explored  it.  There  were  few  land  fowls 
— only  eagles  of  the  larger  sort,  but  five  or  six  sorts 
of  small  birds.  There  were  waterfowl  in  abun- 

198 


FAIR    ISLAND 

dance  of  many  varieties,  with  shellfish  to  our  hands, 
and  good  fish  for  the  fishing,  so  between  the  sea 
and  the  land  we  were  in  no  fear  of  want  of  victual, 
which  cheered  us  very  greatly. 

We  had  rigged  up  some  rough  tents  with  our 
canvas,  one  apart  for  Marjorie  and  one  for  me  and 
Lancelot,  and  half  a  dozen  for  our  men,  and  alto- 
gether our  condition  had  fair  show  of  comfort, 
and  to  me  indeed  seemed  full  of  felicity. 

Until  we  had  thoroughly  explored  the  island 
we  did  not  deem  it  wise  to  make  our  promised 
communication  with  the  former  island.  But  as  soon 
as  we  had  pretty  well  seen  all  that  there  was  to  be 
seen,  we  thought  that,  the  time  still  being  fair, 
we  could  scarcely  do  better  than  get  our  fellow- 
adventurers  over.  Our  men  were  therefore  set  to 
work  collecting  as  large  a  quantity  of  fuel  as  might 
be,  and  in  clearing  a  path  to  the  summit  of  the 
nearest  hill,  from  which  we  might  set  off  our  bon- 
fire to  the  best  advantage. 

Our  men  were  all  dispersed  about  the  island  busy 
at  this  business,  and  Marjorie  was  in  her  tent,  tak- 
ing at  her  brother's  entreaty  the  rest  she  would 
never  have  allowed  herself.  It  was  a  very  hot  day, 
and  Lancelot  and  I,  who  had  been  collecting  fire- 
wood on  the  near  slope  of  the  hill,  but  a  few  yards 

199 


MARJORIE 

from  the  creek  where  our  craft  was  beached,  were 
lying  down  for  a  brief  rest  under  a  tree  and  talk- 
ing together  of  old  times.  The  sight  of  a  small 
gaudy  parrot,  of  which  there  was  an  abundance 
in  the  island,  had  sent  our  memories  back  to  that 
parlour  of  Mr.  Davies's  where  we  had  first  met, 
and  where  there  were  parrots  on  the  wall,  and  so 
we  chatted  very  pleasantly. 

By-and-by  our  talk  flagged  a  little,  for  we  grew 
drowsy  with  the  heat,  and  our  eyes  closed  and  we 
fell  into  dozes,  from  which  we  would  lazily  wake 
up  to  enjoy  the  warm  air  and  the  bright  sunlight 
and  the  vivid  colours  of  everything  about  us,  sea 
and  sky  and  trees  and  flowers  and  grasses. 

I  remember  very  well  musing  as  I  lay  there  upon 
the  strangeness  of  disposition  which  leads  men  to 
pine  out  their  lives  in  the  mean  air  of  smoky  cities, 
with  all  their  hardship  and  their  unloveliness,  when 
the  world  has  so  many  brave  places  only  waiting  for 
bold  spirits  to  come  and  dwell  therein.  Boylike,  I 
had  forgotten  all  the  perils  which  I  had  undergone 
before  ever  I  came  to  Fair  Island.  I  was  only  con- 
scious of  the  delicious  appearance  of  the  place, 
of  our  good  fortune  in  finding  so  fair  a  haven; 
and  if  only  Captain  Marmaduke  and  my  mother 
had  been  with  us  I  think  I  could  have  been  very  well 

200 


FAIR    ISLAND 

content  to  pass  the  remainder  of  my  days  upon  that 
island,  which  seemed  to  me  to  the  full  as  enchanted 
as  any  I  had  read  of  in  the  Arabian  tales. 

I  had  dropped  into  a  kind  of  sleep,  in  which  I 
dreamt  that  I  was  Sindbad  the  Sailor,  when  I  was 
awakened  by  a  light  step  and  the  sound  of  a  soft 
voice.  I  looked  up  and  saw  that  Marjorie  was 
bending  over  Lancelot,  who  was  sitting  up  by  me. 
She  held  him  by  the  arm  and  pointed  out  across  the 
sea. 

'Don't  you  see  something  out  there  ?'  she  asked, 
speaking  quite  low,  as  she  always  did  when  excited 
by  anything. 

Lancelot  and  I  followed  the  direction  of  her  gaze 
and  her  outstretched  finger,  and  discerned  very  far 
away  upon  the  sea  a  small  black  object.  It  lay  be- 
tween us  and  the  island  we  had  left,  but  somewhat 
to  the  right  of  it. 

'What  is  it?'  I  asked. 

'That's  just  what  I  want  to  know,'  said  Marjorie. 
'How  if  it  should  be  savages?' 

The  very  thought  was  disquieting.  We  had 
grown  so  secure  that  we  had  almost  forgotten  the 
possibility  of  such  dangers;  but  now,  at  Marjorie's 
words,  the  possibilities  came  clearly  back  to  me. 
Captain  Marmaduke  had  told  us  many  a  time 

201 


MARJORIE 

stories  about  savages  and  their  war  canoes  and  their 
barbarous  weapons,  and  it  was  very  likely  indeed 
that  what  we  saw  was  a  boat  filled  with  such 
creatures  creeping  across  the  sea  to  attack  us. 

It  moved  very  slowly  across  the  smooth  waters, 
and  there  was  a  strong  bright  sun,  which  played 
upon  the  surface  of  the  water  very  dazzlingly, 
which  added  to  our  difficulty  in  understanding  the 
floating  object.  But  as  it  came  slowly  nearer  we 
saw  that  it  must  be  some  kind  of  vessel,  for  we  dis- 
tinguished what  was  clearly  a  mast  with  a  sail, 
though,  as  there  was  very  little  wind  that  morning, 
the  sail  hung  idly  by  the  mast.  A  little  later  we 
were  able  to  be  sure  that  what  we  saw  was  a  kind  of 
raft,  with,  as  I  have  said,  a  mast  and  sail,  but  that 
its  propulsion  came  from  some  human  beings  who 
were  aboard  it,  and  who  were  causing  its  slow  prog- 
ress with  oars.  By  this  time  I  had  got  out  a  spy- 
glass from  our  tent ;  and  then  Lancelot  gave  a  cry 
of  amazement,  for  he  recognised  in  the  new-comers 
certain  of  those  colonists  our  companions  whom  we 
had  left  behind  on  the  hither  island.  There  were 
five  of  them  on  board,  all  of  whom  Lancelot  named 
to  us,  and  as  he  named  them,  Marjorie  and  I,  look- 
ing through  the  glass  in  turns,  were  able  to  recognise 
them  too.  By-and-by  they  saw  us  too,  for  one  of 

202 


FAIR    ISLAND 

them  stood  up  on  the  raft,  and  stripping  off  his 
shirt  waved  it  feebly  in  the  air  as  a  signal  to  us,  a 
signal  which  we  immediately  answered  by  waving 
our  kerchiefs.  It  takes  a  long  time  to  tell,  but  the 
thing  itself  took  longer  to  happen,  for  it  must  have 
been  fully  an  hour  after  we  first  noted  the  raft 
before  it  came  close  to  the  shore  of  our  island. 

As  soon  as  it  was  within  a  couple  of  boats'  lengths 
Lancelot  and  I,  in  our  impatience  and  our  anxiety  to 
aid,  ran  into  the  water,  which  was  shallow  there, 
for  the  beach  sloped  gently,  and  was  not  waist  high 
when  we  reached  the  voyagers,  so  that  we  had  no 
fear  of  sharks.  The  new-comers  were  huddled  to- 
gether on  as  rudely  fashioned  a  raft  as  it  had  ever 
been  my  lot  to  see,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the 
astonishing  tranquillity  of  the  sea  it  is  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  they  could  have  made  a  hundred  yards 
without  coming  to  pieces.  They  all  leaped  into  the 
water  now,  and  between  us  we  ran  the  crazy  raft  on 
to  the  beach,  Lancelot  and  I  doing  the  most  part 
of  the  work,  for  the  poor  wretches  that  had  been 
on  board  of  her  seemed  to  be  sorely  exhausted  and 
scarcely  able  to  speak  as  they  splashed  and  stag- 
gered through  the  shallow  water  to  the  shore,  where 
Marjorie  was  waiting  anxiously  for  us. 

They  did  speak,  however,  when  once  they  were 
203 


MARJORIE 

safely  on  dry  land  and  had  taken  each  a  sip  from 
our  water-bottles,  for  all  their  throats  were  parched 
and  swollen  with  thirst.  It  was  a  terrible  tale 
which  they  had  to  tell,  and  it  made  us  shiver  and 
grow  sick  while  they  told  it.  I  will  tell  it  again 
now,  not,  indeed,  in  their  words,  which  were  wild, 
rambling,  and  disconnected,  but  in  my  own  words, 
making  as  plain  a  tale  of  it  as  I  can,  for  indeed  it 
needs  no  skill  to  exaggerate  the  horror  of  it. 


204 


CHAPTER    XXV 

THE    STORY   FROM  THE   SEA 

IN  few  words,  it  came  to  this.  The  sailors  on  the 
island  had  proved  themselves  to  be  as  bloody  vil- 
lains as  had  ever  fed  the  gallows.  They  had  taken 
the  unhappy  colonists  by  surprise  and  had  mas- 
sacred them,  all  but  the  women  and  the  children. 
As  for  the  women — poor  things ! — it  would  have 
been  better  for  them  if  they  had  been  killed  with 
the  others,  but  their  lives  were  spared  for  greater 
sorrows.  Those  who  told  us  that  tale  were  all  that 
were  left,  they  said,  of  the  unhappy  company. 
They  had  escaped  by  mere  chance  to  the  woods,  and 
had  fashioned  with  their  axes  the  rough  raft  and 
oars  which  had  conducted  them  at  last  to  us  and 
to  temporary  safety. 

This  was  their  first  raw  story.  Horrid  as  it  was 
it  took  a  stronger  horror  when  one  of  the  men 
shouted  a  curse  at  Cornelys  Jensen. 

'Cornelys  Jensen !'  I  cried.  'Cornelys  Jensen — 
Cornelys  Jensen  is  dead,  and  the  seas  have  swal- 
lowed him.' 

205 


MARJORIE 

The  man  who  had  uttered  his  name  gave  a  great 
groan. 

'Would  to  Heaven  they  had,'  he  said.  'But 
Heaven  has  not  been  so  merciful.  That  tiger  still 
lives  and  lusts  for  blood.' 

Marjorie  and  Lancelot  and  I  glanced  at  each 
other  in  amazement,  and  the  same  thought  crossed 
all  our  minds — that  fear  and  grief  had  crazed  the 
unhappy  man  who  was  speaking  to  us.  But  he, 
reading  something  of  our  thoughts  in  our  eyes, 
turned  to  his  fellows  for  confirmation,  and  confirma- 
tion they  readily  gave.  Cornelys  Jensen  was  alive. 
Cornelys  Jensen  was  on  the  island.  Cornelys  Jen- 
sen was  the  instigator  of  the  massacre,  the  bloodiest 
actor  in  the  bloody  work. 

Here  was  indeed  amazing  tidings,  and  we  cried 
to  know  more,  but  the  men  had  no  more  to  tell. 
They  had  no  knowledge  of  how  Cornelys  Jensen 
made  his  appearance  upon  the  island ;  all  they  knew 
was  that  he  did  appear,  and  that  his  appearance  was 
the  signal  for  a  display  of  weapons  on  the  part  of 
the  sailors  on  his  side  and  the  massacre  of  all  the 
unhappy  wretches  who  were  not  inclined  to  his 
piratical  purposes.  The  colonists  seemed  to  have 
made  no  sort  of  stand  for  their  lives.  Indeed,  it 
would  appear  that  they  were  taken  quite  unawares, 

206 


THE    STORY    FROM    THE    SEA 

and  that  the  most  were  struck  down  before  they 
had  time  to  act  in  their  own  defence.  As  for  the 
miserable  wretches  who  told  us  this  tale,  they  had 
fled  to  the  woods  when  the  wicked  business  began, 
and  the  murderers  either  lost  count  of  them  or 
imagined  that  they  must  perish  miserably  of  famine 
in  the  forest  Indeed,  they  must  have  so  perished 
if  it  had  not  occurred  to  one  of  them,  who  had  his 
wits  a  little  more  about  him  than  the  others,  to 
suggest  the  manufacture  of  a  raft,  whereby  they 
might  make  the  attempt  to  reach  the  island,  where, 
as  they  guessed,  we,  with  our  well-armed  fellows, 
were  safely  settled.  'For,'  as  the  man  argued,  'we 
risk  death  either  way.  If  we  stop  here  we  must 
either  perish  among  these  trees  for  lack  of  sus- 
tenance or  must  creep  back  to  the  piratical  camp 
with  little  other  hope  than  a  stroke  from  a  hanger, 
or  tempt  the  seas  in  the  hope  of  friends  and  safety.' 
So  they  fashioned  a  raft  as  well  as  they  could  out 
of  a  number  of  fallen  trees,  which  they  fastened 
together  with  natural  ropes  made  of  the  long  creep- 
ing plants  that  abounded,  and  that  were  as  tough 
and  as  endurable  as  ever  was  rope  that  was  weaved 
out  of  honest  hemp.  They  found  enough  timber 
for  their  craft  among  the  fallen  tree  trunks,  and 
they  had  the  less  difficulty  in  their  work  that  one 

207 


MARJORIE 

of  their  number  was  Janes,  who  had  his  saw  in  his 
belt  at  the  moment  of  their  flight  to  the  woods. 

Long  before  they  finished  telling  their  tale  our 
men,  who  were  scattered  abroad  in  the  woods,  came 
tumbling  down  to  us  at  the  sound  of  the  horn,  that 
Lancelot  wound  to  summon  them,  and  gathered  in 
horror  around  their  unhappy  comrades.  As  for  me, 
I  was  so  amazed  at  the  news  that  Cornelys  Jensen 
was  alive  that  I  stood  for  awhile  like  one  stunned, 
and  could  say  nothing,  but  only  stare  at  those  pale 
faces  and  wonder  dumbly.  When  after  awhile  the 
power  of  speech  did  return  to  me  I  strove  with 
many  questions  to  find  out  how  Jensen  was  thus 
restored  to  life  and  to  evil  deeds,  but  as  to  that  they 
none  of  them  knew  anything.  If  the  marvel  of 
Jensen's  reappearance  was  the  greatest  marvel, 
marvel  only  second  to  it  was  how  the  sailors  who 
obeyed  him  came  to  have  weapons  for  their  busi- 
ness. As  to  that,  again,  the  fugitives  could  give  no 
help.  The  sailors  had  arms,  every  man  of  them, 
muskets  and  pistols  and  cutlasses,  and  had  used 
them  with  deadly  effect.  It  was  all  a  mystery  that 
made  our  senses  sick  to  think  upon. 

Of  one  thing  the  fugitives  were  very  positive — 
that  Jensen  and  his  murderers  would  very  soon 
make  a  descent  upon  our  island,  in  the  hope  of  sur- 

208 


THE    STORY    FROM    THE    SEA 

prising  us  unawares  and  killing  us.  For  now  they 
were  very  numerous,  and  at  least  as  well  armed  as 
we  were,  and  would  make  very  formidable  enemies. 
The  only  wonder  was  that  they  had  not  already 
attempted  it,  but  the  men  believed  that  the  villains 
were  so  engrossed  in  a  swinish  orgie  after  their 
triumph  as  to  be  heedless  of  time  or  prudence.  So 
here  were  we — but  thirty-two  men  in  all,  not  count- 
ing these  fugitives — and  with  one  woman,  though 
so  brave  an  one — in  urgent  peril.  It  was  fortunate 
for  us  all  that  in  Lancelot's  youth  there  was  an  alli- 
ance of  courage  with  skill  which  would  have  done 
credit  to  a  general  of  fifty.  I  was  not  much  in  those 
days  in  the  way  of  giving  advice,  but  I  was  strong 
and  active,  and  ready  to  obey  Lancelot  in  all  things, 
which  was  what  was  most  wanted  of  me  in  that 
juncture.  We  had  every  reason  to  be  confident  in 
the  fidelity  and  courage  of  the  men  who  were  with 
us,  and  our  confidence  was  not  misplaced. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  settle  the  fugi- 
tives in  the  utmost  comfort  we  could  afford  them. 
We  put  them  to  rest  in  one  of  our  tents  we  had 
built,  and  gave  to  each  of  them  a  taste  of  strong 
waters,  after  which  we  urged  them  to  sleep  if  they 
could,  adding,  to  encourage  them  in  that  effort, 
that  the  sooner  their  bodies  were  refreshed  by  rest 

209 


MARJORIE 

and  food  the  better  they  would  be  able  to  bear  their 
part  in  resisting  the  common  enemy.  This  argu- 
ment had  great  weight  with  the  men,  who  were  very 
willing  to  be  of  help,  but  too  hopelessly  worn  out 
just  then  to  be  of  the  smallest  aid  to  us  or  the 
smallest  obstacle  to  our  enemies.  Indeed,  the  poor 
fellows  were  so  broken  with  fear  and  suffering  that 
I  think  they  would  have  slept  if  they  had  heard  that 
Cornelys  Jensen,  with  all  his  pack,  had  landed  upon 
the  island.  As  it  was,  in  a  very  few  minutes  all  of 
them  were  lying  in  a  row  and  sleeping  soundly. 
I  could  almost  have  wept  as  I  looked  upon  them 
lying  there  so  quiet  and  so  miserable,  and  thought 
of  all  the  high  hopes  with  which  they  had  entered 
upon  the  adventure  that  had  proved  so  disastrous 
for  them  and  so  fatal  for  so  many  of  their  com- 
panions. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  them,  our  next  course 
was  to  take  such  steps  as  we  could  towards  strength- 
ening our  position.  To  begin  with,  we  hauled  our 
boat  further  up  the  creek  than  she  now  was,  for  it 
would  be  a  terrible  misfortune  to  us  if  anything 
were  to  happen  to  her,  seeing  that  on  her  depended 
any  chance  we  had  of  leaving  the  island  if  we  were 
so  far  pushed  as  to  have  to  make  the  attempt.  Our 
position  was  not  an  easy  one  to  attack  as  it  stood, 

210 


THE    STORY    FROM   THE    SEA 

coming,  as  the  attack  must,  from  the  island  we  had 
left,  for  of  an  attack  in  our  rear  we  had  no  danger. 
Even  if  Cornelys  Jensen  were  able  to  get  to  the  back 
of  our  island,  it  would  take  him  an  intolerable  time 
to  make  his  way  through  the  well-nigh  impenetrable 
woods  that  lay  between  us.  On  our  front  we  felt 
confident  that  the  attack  would  come,  and  we  felt 
further  confident  that,  even  if  it  was  made  with  the 
full  force  of  ruffians  that  Jensen  had  at  his  com- 
mand, we  ought  to  be  able  to  repulse  it,  and  to  pre- 
vent the  scoundrels  from  effecting  a  landing.  For 
though  the  news  that  they  were  thoroughly 
equipped  with  the  weapons  and  munitions  of  war 
was  wofully  disheartening  news,  still,  as  we  were 
well  armed  ourselves,  it  did  not  altogether  dis- 
courage us.  They  might  be  very  well  two  to  one, 
but  two  to  one  is  no  such  great  odds  when  the 
larger  party  has  to  effect  a  landing  upon  an  open 
place  held  by  resolute  men  and  well  weaponed. 

It  was,  in  Lancelot's  judgment,  our  first  duty 
to  erect  a  sort  of  fort  or  stockade  upon  the  beach, 
wherein  we  could  take  shelter  if  we  were  really  hard 
pressed,  and  wherein  we  could  store  for  greater 
safety  our  stores  and  ammunition  from  our  skiff. 
We  had  set  up  several  huts  along  the  shore  of  the 
creek  for  habitation  and  for  storage  of  our  goods. 

211 


MARJORIE 

But  they  would  have  offered  no  protection  in  case 
of  an  attack,  being  but  mere  shells  hurriedly  put 
together,  and  intended  merely  as  temporary  shelters 
from  possible  foul  weather.  Lancelot's  scheme  was 
to  enclose  all  these  buildings  in  a  strong  wall,  and 
to  connect  that  fort  by  another  wall  with  the  spot 
at  which  our  skiff  was  beached. 

There  was  no  great  difficulty  in  the  construction 
of  such  a  stockade  in  itself.  Timber  enough  and  to 
spare  was  to  be  had  for  the  chopping,  and  we  had 
thirty  odd  pairs  of  arms  and  sufficient  axes  to  make 
that  a  matter  of  no  difficulty.  Nor  was  there  any 
difficulty  as  regards  the  building  of  such  a  fort,  for 
Lancelot's  knowledge  of  military  matters  made  him 
quite  capable  of  planning  it  out  according  to  the 
most  approved  methods  of  fortification. 

We  set  to  work  upon  the  stockade  at  once,  and 
soon  were  chopping  away  for  dear  life,  even  Mar- 
jorie  wielding  a  light  axe,  and  wielding  it  well. 
Many  hands,  it  is  said,  make  light  work,  and  there 
were  enough  of  us  to  make  the  business  move  pretty 
quickly.  Choosing  trees  with  trunks  of  a  middling 
thickness,  we  soon  had  a  great  quantity  cut  down 
and  made  of  the  length  that  was  needed.  These  we 
proceeded  to  set  up  in  the  places  that  Lancelot  had 
marked  out,  but  first  we  dug  deep  trenches  in  the 

212 


THE    STORY    FROM    THE    SEA 

ground  so  as  to  ensure  their  being  firmly  estab- 
lished, Marjorie  taking  her  share  of  the  spade 
work  with  a  will.  We  had  not  done  very  much 
before  Abraham  Janes,  the  carpenter,  came  out  of 
the  hut  and  joined  us.  He  declared  that  he  was 
now  well  refreshed,  and  that  he  wished  to  bear  his 
part  in  the  labour;  and  indeed  we  were  very  glad 
to  let  him  do  so,  because  he  was  an  exceedingly  skil- 
ful workman,  and  very  ready  with  the  use  of  saw 
and  hatchet. 


213 


CHAPTER    XXVI 

THE   BUSINESS   BEGINS 

WITH  toil  we  set  up  the  front  of  our  stockade  and 
a  portion  ,of  the  sides  of  the  parallelogram.  It 
was  all  loopholed  for  our  musketry,  and  was  firm 
and  strong,  being  carefully  stiffened  behind  by  cross 
beams  and  shored  up  with  buttresses  of  big  logs  in 
a  manner  that,  if  not  thoroughly  workmanlike,  was 
at  least  satisfactory  from  the  point  of  strength, 
which  was  just  then  our  main  consideration.  Our 
palisade  was  about  double  the  height  of  a  man,  and 
in  the  centres,  both  front  and  back,  there  was  a  gate, 
that  was  held  in  its  place  when  shut  by  heavy  bars 
of  wood  which  fitted  into  holes  cut  to  receive  them. 
Ere  set  of  sun  we  had  our  outworks  completed, 
and  found  ourselves  the  possessors  of  a  very  credit- 
able stockade,  which  under  ordinary  conditions 
ought,  if  properly  manned  and  well  supplied  with 
ammunition,  to  resist  the  attack  of  a  very  much 
greater  number  than  the  defending  party.  It  was 
still  in  our  mind  to  run  out  a  palisade  that  should 
connect  our  stronghold  with  the  place  where  the 

214 


THE    BUSINESS    BEGINS 

skiff  lay,  but  it  was  too  late,  and  we  were  now  too 
exhausted  to  think  of  that,  for  we  had  worked  at 
our  task  ever  since  we  had  got  the  alarm,  and  it  was 
really  impossible  for  us  to  do  more  in  that  work. 

But  before  we  rested  we  conveyed  from  our  boat 
all  our  stores  and  all  our  arms  and  ammunition — 
of  which  latter,  indeed,  we  had  no  great  quantity, 
a  matter  which  we  had  not  heeded  before,  but  which 
now  gave  us  great  trouble.  We  brought  in  abun- 
dance of  water,  and  we  had  ample  provisions,  which 
the  island  itself  had  in  chief  part  offered  to  us,  so 
that  we  could  hold  our  own-  very  well  for  a  time 
in  case  it  came  to  a  siege.  Our  hope,  however,  was 
that  we  might  be  able  to  prevent  the  pirates  from 
effecting  a  landing  at  all. 

When  we  went  to  seek  rest  for  the  night  we  took 
care  to  set  good  guard  and  to  keep  strict  watch, 
for  a  night  attack  was  possible,  if  it  was  not  very 
likely. 

Though  we  were  all  very  tired,  both  bodily  and 
mentally,  by  reason  of  the  labour  of  our  hands  and 
the  strain  upon  our  minds,  I  do  not  think  that  any 
of  us  found  sleep  very  easy  to  come  at  first.  I  only 
know  that  I  lay  on  my  back  and  stared  up  at  the 
stars — for  the  night  was  too  hot  to  sleep  under 
cover — for  long  enough.  At  last  I  fell  asleep,  and 

215 


MARJORIE 

through  sleep  into  a  fitful  feverish  dream,  which 
chopped  and  changed  from  one  place  and  subject 
to  another;  but  at  last  it  settled  down  into  one 
decided  dream — and  that  was  a  good  dream,  for  it 
was  a  dream  of  Marjorie.  It  seemed  that  I  was 
walking  with  her  along  the  downs  beyond  Sen- 
dennis,  not  far  from  that  place  where  Lancelot 
found  me  blubbering  in  years  gone  by,  and  that  I 
was  telling  her  that  I  loved  her,  and  that  she  let 
me  hold  her  hand  while  I  told  her,  which  showed 
that  she  was  not  averse  to  my  tale,  and  that  when 
I  had  done  she  turned  and  looked  me  full  in  the 
face,  and  there  was  love — love  for  me — in  her 
eyes. 

Then  I  awoke  suddenly  and  found  it  was  full 
day,  and  that  Marjorie  was  bending  over  me.  For 
the  moment  I  did  not  recollect  where  I  was,  and 
stared  in  surprise  at  the  great  wooden  paling  by 
which  we  were  surrounded.  Then  recollection  of 
the  whole  situation  came  back  to  me  in  a  flash,  and 
I  leapt  to  my  feet. 

All  around  me  the  men  were  making  preparations 
for  the  morning  meal,  or  were  engaged  in  looking 
to  their  weapons,  testing  the  sharpness  of  a  cutlass 
or  seeing  to  the  priming  of  a  matchlock.  The  big 
door  of  the  stronghold  was  open,  and  through  it  I 

216 


THE    BUSINESS   BEGINS 

could  see  the  white  beach  and  the  sea-edge,  where 
Lancelot  stood  scanning  the  horizon  with  the  spy- 
glass. The  sun  was  very  bright,  and  I  could  hear 
the  parrots  screaming  away  in  the  woods  behind  us. 

'Come  outside,  Ralph,'  said  Marjorie.  'I  want 
to  speak  with  you.' 

We  went  out  together  through  the  gate  into  the 
open,  and  walked  slowly  a  little  way  in  the  direction 
of  the  sea.  Both  of  us  looked,  naturally  enough, 
to  that  island  where  our  enemies  lay.  Presently  we 
halted  and  stood  in  silence  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
Marjorie  spoke. 

'Ralph,'  she  said  quietly,  'you  are  my  friend,  I 
believe.' 

I  had  it  in  my  heart  to  cry  wild  words  to  her;  to 
tell  her  again  that  I  loved  her  then  and  for  ever, 
but  though  the  words  tingled  on  my  lips  they  never 
took  life  and  sound.  For  Marjorie  was  looking  at 
me  so  steadfastly  and  sadly  with  a  strange  gravity 
in  the  angel-blue  of  her  eyes  that  I  could  not  speak 
what  she  might  not  wish  to  hear.  So  I  simply  nod- 
ded my  head  and  held  out  my  hand  and  caught  hers 
and  clasped  it  close. 

'Ralph,'  she  said  again.  'We  fight  for  the  right, 
but  right  is  not  always  might,  and  our  enemies 
may  overpower  us.  If  they  do — '  here  I  thought 

217 


MARJORIE 

she  paled  a  little,  but  her  voice  was  as  firm  as  ever 
— 'if  they  do,  I  want  you  to  promise  me  one 
promise.' 

I  suppose  the  look  in  my  face  assured  her  that 
there  was  nothing  she  could  ask  of  me  that  I  would 
not  obey,  for  she  went  on  without  waiting  for  me 
to  speak: 

'I  have  the  right  to  ask  you  because  of  some 
words  you  once  said  to  me,  words  which  I  remem- 
ber. If  the  worst  comes  you  must  kill  me.  Hush' 
— for  I  gave  a  groan  as  she  spoke. 

'That  must  be.  I  have  heard  enough  to  know 
that  I  must  not  live  if  our  enemies  triumph.  If  I 
were  alone  I  should  kill  myself;  if  you  were  not 
here  I  should  have  to  ask  Lancelot,  but  you  are  here 
and  I  would  rather  it  happened  by  your  hand.' 

It  was  strange  to  stand  on  that  quiet  shore  by 
that  quiet  sea  and  look  into  that  beautiful  face  and 
listen  to  that  beautiful  voice  and  hear  it  utter  such 
words.  But  my  heart  thrilled  with  a  wild  pride 
at  her  prayer. 

'I  will  do  your  bidding,'  I  said,  and  she  answered 
'I  thank  you.'  We  might  have  been  talking  of 
nothing  in  particular  so  even  were  our  voices  and 
so  simple  was  our  speech.  I  pressed  her  hand  and 
let  it  go.  Then,  swiftly,  she  came  a  little  nearer 

218 


THE    BUSINESS    BEGINS 

and  took  my  face  in  her  dear  hands  and  kissed  me  on 
the  forehead,  and  there  are  no  words  in  the  world 
sweet  enough  or  sacred  enough  to  interpret  my 
thoughts  in  that  moment.  Then  she  moved  away 
and  made  to  go  towards  Lancelot,  but  even  as  she 
did  so  I  saw  him  turn  and  run  towards  us  along  the 
beach.  As  soon  as  he  joined  us  he  bade  Marjorie 
go  to  our  hut  and  blow  the  horn  to  bring  our  people 
together.  After  that  she  was  to  wait  in  her  own 
shelter  till  he  came  for  her.  She  obeyed  him  un- 
questioningly,  as  she  always  did  in  those  days  of 
danger,  and  for  a  moment  Lancelot  and  I  were 
alone. 

'Here  they  come,'  he  said  very  tranquilly.  'See 
for  yourself.'  And  he  handed  the  spy-glass  to  me. 

As  I  put  it  to  my  eye  he  added :  'I  can't  under- 
stand where  they  get  their  rig  from.' 

Neither  could  I.  As  I  looked  through  the  glass 
I  could  see  that  two  boats  were  coming  slowly 
towards  us,  and  that  each  boat  was  full  of  men. 
It  was  surprising  enough  to  see  them  coming  in 
boats,  but  it  was  not  that  which  had  chiefly  sur- 
prised either  Lancelot  or  me.  Our  wonder  was 
caused  by  the  fact  that  all  the  men  in  the  boats 
were  clad  in  scarlet  coats,  scarlet  coats  that  looked 
very  bright  and  clean  and  new. 

219 


MARJORIE 

'Can  these  be  our  men  at  all?'  I  asked  of  Lance- 
lot in  amazement.  I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me 
conceive  what  other  men  they  could  be,  but  the  sight 
of  all  those  scarlet  coats  filled  me  with  astonish- 
ment. 

Lancelot  took  the  spy-glass  from  me  again  with- 
out replying,  and  looked  long  and  patiently  at  the 
approaching  boats. 

'Yes,'  he  said  at  last,  'they  are  our  men  sure 
enough,  for  I  see  the  face  of  Jensen  among  them. 
But  how  on  earth  has  he  contrived  to  deck  out  all 
his  gang  of  rascals  in  the  likeness  of  soldiers?'  He 
paused  for  a  moment;  then  added  thoughtfully: 
1  'Tis  our  Providence  that  the  Royal  Christopher 
lost  her  cannon.  Yonder  stronghold  would  be  no 
better  than  so  much  pasteboard  against  a  couple 
of  the  ship's  guns.' 

We  had  no  time  for  further  converse.  The 
sound  of  the  horn  had  rallied  our  party,  and  soon 
the  whole  of  our  men  were  gathered  about  us,  star- 
ing over  the  sea  at  those  two  moving  blots  of  scar- 
let. I  cast  an  anxious  glance  at  the  face  of  each 
man  of  our  little  party,  and  when  I  had  finished  I 
did  not  feel  anxious  any  more.  I  could  see  by  the 
face  of  every  man  that  he  meant  to  fight  and  to  fight 
his  best. 

220 


THE    BUSINESS    BEGINS 

Lancelot  lost  no  time  in  getting  the  men  into  or- 
der and  in  arranging  exactly  what  was  to  be  done. 
It  was  curious,  perhaps,  although  I  did  not  think  it 
curious  then,  that  these  men  should  have  accepted 
so  unquestioningly  Lancelot's  command  over  them. 
But  they  were  old  soldiers,  who  had  promised  to 
obey  Captain  Amber,  and  he  had  himself  devolved 
his  command  upon  Lancelot.  And  so,  until  Lance- 
lot went  stark  staring  mad,  which  he  was  not  in  the 
least  likely  to  do,  they  were  perfectly  prepared  to 
obey  him. 

I  should  not  be  adhering  to  the  spirit  of  truth- 
fulness which  I  have  observed  in  setting  down  these 
my  early  experiences  if  I  did  not  confess  that  I 
faced  the  fact  of  coming  conflict  with  very  mingled 
emotions.  This  was  the  very  first  time  that  I  had 
ever  seen  human  beings  about  to  close  in  bloody 
strife.  Here  I  found  myself  standing  up  with  arms 
in  my  hands,  ready  to  take  away  the  life  of  a  fellow- 
creature — to  take  away  the  lives  of  several  fellow- 
creatures,  if  needs  must.  Moreover,  I  knew  very 
well  that  there  were  plenty  of  chances  of  my  get- 
ting knocked  on  the  head  in  this  my  first  scrimmage, 
and  I  trembled  a  little  inwardly — though  not,  as  I 
believe,  outwardly — at  the  thought  of  my  promise 
to  Marjorie.  And  yet  even  with  that  thought  a 

221 


MARJORIE 

new  courage  came  into  my  heart.  For  I  immedi- 
ately resolved  that,  come  what  might,  I  would  en- 
deavour to  carry  myself  in  such  a  manner  as  Mar- 
jorie  would  have  me  carry  myself,  namely,  as  an 
honest  man  should,  fighting  to  the  best  of  his  abil- 
ity for  what  he  believed  to  be  the  right  cause,  and 
not  making  too  much  of  a  fuss  about  it.  And  that 
resolve  nerved  me  better  than  a  dram  of  spirits 
would  have  done,  and  I  set  aside  the  flask  from 
which  I  had  been  on  the  point  to  help  myself. 

I  do  not  know  if  Lancelot  felt  like  that  in  any 
degree,  and  I  never  presumed  to  question  him  on 
the  point  afterwards,  as  there  are  some  topics  upon 
which  gentlemen  cannot  approach  each  other,  how- 
ever great  the  degree  of  intimacy  may  be  between 
them.  But  he  certainly  carried  himself  as  com- 
posedly as  if  we  were  standing  in  a  ball-room 
before  the  dancing  began.  It  is  true  that  he  had 
been  brought  up  to  understand  the  military  life 
and  the  use  of  arms,  and  he  had  seen  a  battle  fought 
in  the  Low  Countries,  and  had  fought  a  duel  him- 
self in  France  with  some  uncivil  fellow.  He  never 
looked  handsomer,  brighter,  more  gallant  than 
then,  and  his  faded  sea-clothes  became  him  as  well 
as  the  richest  gala  suit  or  finest  uniform  that  courtier 
or  soldier  ever  wore.  He  had  an  exquisite  neatness 

232 


THE    BUSINESS    BEGINS 

of  his  person  ever,  and  had  contrived  every  day 
upon  that  island  to  shave  himself,  so  that  while 
most  of  his  fellows  bore  bristling  beards,  and  my 
own  chin  was  as  raspy  as  a  hedgehog,  he  might 
have  presented  himself  at  the  Court  of  St.  James's, 
so  spruce  was  his  appearance. 

When  all  was  ready  Lancelot  drew  up  his  men 
very  soldierly  and  made  them  a  little  speech.  He 
bade  them  bear  in  mind  that  the  men  who  were 
about  to  attack  us  were  not  merely  our  own  enemies, 
but  the  King's ;  and  not  merely  the  King's  enemies, 
but  Heaven's,  because,  being  pirates,  they  sinned 
against  the  laws  of  Heaven  as  well  as  the  laws  of 
earth.  He  bade  them  be  sure  that  they  need  look 
for  no  mercy  from  such  fellows,  and  that  therefore 
it  behoved  every  man  of  them  to  fight  his  best,  both 
for  his  own  sake  and  for  the  sake  of  his  companions ; 
but  also  he  conjured  them,  if  the  victory  went  with 
them,  not  to  forget  that  even  those  pirates  were 
made  in  God's  image,  albeit  vilely  perverted,  and 
that  it  was  our  duty  as  Christians  and  as  soldiers  to 
show  them  more  mercy  than  they  would  deal  out 
to  us.  He  ended  by  reminding  them  that  they 
were  Englishmen,  and  that  a  portion  of  England's 
honour  and  glory  depended  upon  the  way  in  which 
they  carried  themselves  that  day.  To  all  of  which 

323 


MARJORIE 

they  listened  attentively,  every  man  standing  steady 
as  if  on  parade. 

When  Lancelot  had  quite  finished  he  pulled  off 
his  hat  and  swung  it  in  the  air,  calling  upon  them 
to  huzza  for  the  King. 

Then  there  went  up  from  our  band  such  a  cheer 
as  did  my  heart  good.  The  island  rang  for  the 
first  time  in  its  life  to  the  huzzaing  with  which 
those  stout  fellows  greeted  the  name  of  the  King. 
Again  and  yet  again  their  voices  shook  the  silence 
with  that  manly  music,  and  I,  while  I  shouted  as 
loud  as  the  rest  of  them,  glowed  with  pride  to  think 
that  courage  and  loyalty  were  the  same  all  the  world 
over.  Nothing  has  ever  made  me  prouder  than  the 
courage  of  that  knot  of  men  about  to  engage  in  a 
doubtful  conflict  in  a  nameless  place  with  a  gang 
of  devils,  and  gallantly  cheering  for  their  King 
before  beginning  it. 

Those  men  in  scarlet  must  have  heard  that  cheer 
and  been  not  a  little  amazed  by  it.  I  dare  say  that 
by  this  time  Cornelys  Jensen  had  seen  us  through 
his  spy-glass.  If  so,  how  he  must  have  cursed  at  our 
readiness  and  at  the  sight  of  our  stockade ! 

It  was  decided  by  Lancelot  that  the  first  thing 
to  do  was  to  prevent  the  pirates  from  landing.  If 
they  succeeded  by  untoward  chance  in  effecting  a 

224 


THE    BUSINESS    BEGINS 

landing,  then  all  of  us  who  were  lucky  enough  to  be 
left  alive  were  to  retreat  with  all  speed  to  the 
stronghold  and  fasten  ourselves  in  there.  To  this 
end  the  gate  was  left  open,  and  in  the  charge  of  two 
men,  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  swing  it  to  and  bolt 
it  the  moment  the  last  of  our  men  had  got  inside. 
A  few  men  were  left  inside  the  stockade,  including 
the  fugitives,  to  whom  we  had  given  arms.  The 
main  body  of  our  men  were  drawn  up  along 
the  beach,  with  their  muskets  ready.  Between 
these  and  the  stockade  a  few  men  were  thrown 
out  to  cover  our  retreat,  if  retreat  there  had 
to  be. 

It  was  anxious  work  to  watch  the  advance  of 
those  two  boats  with  their  scarlet  crews  over  that 
tranquil  tropic  sea.  The  water  was  smooth,  as  it 
had  been  now  for  days,  and  their  coming  was  steady 
and  measured.  As  had  been  the  case  ever  since  we 
made  Fair  Island,  there  was  almost  no  wind,  so  that 
their  sails  were  of  little  service,  but  their  rowing  was 
excellent,  as  the  rowing  of  good  seamen  always  is. 
And,  villains  though  they  were,  those  underlings  of 
Jensen's  were  admirable  sailors. 

When  they  were  quite  near  we  could  recognise 
the  faces  of  the  fellows  in  the  two  boats.  Cornelys 
Jensen  was  in  the  first  boat,  and  he  was  dressed  out 

225 


MARJORIE 

as  sumptuously  as  any  general  of  our  army  on  a  field 
day.  For  though  every  man  jack  of  them  in  the 
two  boats  was  blazing  in  scarlet,  and  though  that 
scarlet  cloth  was  additionally  splendid  with  gold 
lace,  the  cloth  and  the  cut  of  Jensen's  coat  were 
finer  and  better  than  those  of  the  others,  and  it  was 
adorned  and  laced  with  far  greater  profusion. 
With  his  dark  face  and  evil  expression  he  looked, 
to  my  mind,  in  all  his  finery  more  like  my  lady's 
monkey  in  holiday  array  than  man,  pirate,  or  devil, 
although  he  was  indeed  all  three. 

Every  man  in  those  two  boats  was  decked  out  in 
scarlet  cloth  and  gold  lace — except  one.  Every 
man  in  those  two  boats  was  heavily  armed  with 
muskets,  pistols  and  cutlasses — except  one.  The 
exception  was  a  man  who  sat  by  the  side  of  Jensen. 
He  was  clad  in  black,  and  his  face  was  very  pale, 
and  there  was  an  ugly  gash  of  a  raw  wound  across 
his  forehead.  I  could  see  that  his  hands  were  tied 
behind  him,  and  in  the  wantonness  of  power  Jensen 
had  laid  his  own  bare  hanger  across  the  prisoner's 
knees.  I  knew  the  captive  at  once.  He  was  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Ebrow,  who  had  so  strengthened  us 
by  his  exhortation  during  our  peril  on  board  the 
Royal  Christopher. 

When  Lancelot  saw  whom  they  had  with  them 
226 


THE    BUSINESS    BEGINS 

and  the  way  that  those  villains  treated  their  captive 
I  noted  that  his  face  paled,  and  that  there  came  a 
look  into  his  eyes  which  I  had  not  often  seen  there, 
but  which  meant  no  good  for  Jensen  and  his  scum 
if  Lancelot  got  the  top  of  them.  For  Lancelot  was 
a  staunch  Churchman  and  a  respecter  of  ministers 
of  God's  Word,  and  as  loyal  to  his  religion  as  he 
was  to  his  King. 

There  was  one  face  which  I  missed  out  of  those 
boatloads  of  blackguards,  a  face  which  I  had  very 
confidently  expected  to  find  most  prominent  amongst 
them.  When  I  missed  it  in  the  first  boat  I  made 
sure  that  I  should  find  it  in  the  second,  and  probably 
in  the  place  of  command ;  but  it  was  not  there  either, 
very  much  to  my  surprise.  At  that  crisis  in  our 
affairs,  at  that  instant  of  peril  to  my  life,  I  was 
for  the  moment  most  perturbed,  or  at  least  most 
puzzled  by  the  fact  that  I  could  not  find  this 
familiar  face  among  the  collection  of  scarlet-coated 
scoundrels  who  were  creeping  in  upon  us. 

The  face  that  I  was  looking  for  was  a  face  that 
would  have  gone  well  enough  too  with  a  scarlet 
coat,  for  it  was  a  scarlet  face  in  itself.  I  looked  for 
that  red-haired  face  which  I  had  seen  for  the  first 
time  leering  at  me  over  Barbara's  shoulders  on  the 
last  day  that  ever  I  set  foot  within  the  Skull  and 

227 


MARJORIE 

Spectacles.  I  was  looking  for  the  face  of  Jensen's 
partner  in  treason — Hatchett. 

By  this  time  our  enemies  had  come  to  within 
perhaps  ten  boats'  lengths  of  Fair  Island.  All  this 
time  they  had  kept  silence,  and  all  this  while  we  had 
kept  silence  also.  But  now,  as  if  Lancelot  had  made 
up  his  mind  exactly  at  what  point  he  would  take  it 
upon  him  to  act,  we  assumed  the  defensive.  For 
Lancelot  gave  the  command  to  make  ready  and  to 
present  our  pieces,  and  his  words  came  from  his 
lips  as  clearly  and  as  composedly  as  if  he  were  only 
directing  some  drilling  on  an  English  green.  In  a 
moment  all  our  muskets  were  at  the  shoulder,  while 
Lancelot  called  out  to  the  pirates  that  if  they  rowed 
another  inch  nearer  he  would  give  the  order  to  fire. 
Our  men  were  steady  men,  and,  though  I  am  sure 
that  more  than  one  of  them  was  longing  to  empty 
his  piece  into  the  boats,  all  remained  as  motionless 
as  if  on  parade. 

The  pirate  boats  came  to  a  dead  stop,  and  I  could 
see  that  all  the  men  who  were  not  busy  with  the  oars 
were  gripping  their  guns.  But  Jensen  kept  them 
down  with  a  gesture.  Then,  as  the  boats  were 
steady,  he  rose  to  his  feet  and  waved  a  white  hand- 
kerchief in  sign  that  he  wished  for  parley.  It  was 
part  of  the  foppishness  of  the  fellow  that  the  hand- 

228 


THE    BUSINESS    BEGINS 

kerchief  was  edged  with  lace,  like  a  woman's  or  a 
grandee's. 

Lancelot  called  out  to  him  to  know  what  he 
wanted.  Jensen  shouted  back  that  he  wished  to  par- 
ley with  us.  Lancelot  promptly  made  answer  that 
he  needed  no  parley,  that  he  knew  him  and  his 
crew  for  traitors,  murderers,  and  pirates,  with 
whom  he  would  have  no  dealings  save  by  arms. 

At  those  bold  words  of  his  we  could  see  that  the 
fellows  in  the  scarlet  coats  were  furious,  and  we 
could  guess  from  their  gestures  that  many  of  them 
were  urging  Jensen  to  attack  us  at  once,  thinking,  no 
doubt,  that  they  might  return  our  fire  and,  being 
able  to  effect  a  landing  before  we  could  reload, 
might  cut  us  to  pieces. 

But,  whatever  their  purposes  were,  Jensen  re- 
strained them,  and  it  was  a  marvel  to  see  the  ease 
with  which  he  ruled  those  savages.  He  again  ad- 
dressed himself  to  Lancelot,  warning  him  that  it 
would  be  for  his  peace  and  the  peace  of  those  who 
were  with  him  to  come  to  some  understanding  with 
the  invaders.  And  at  last,  having  spoken  some  time 
without  shaking  Lancelot's  resolve,  Jensen  asked  if 
he  would  at  least  receive  an  envoy  upon  the  island. 

Lancelot  was  about  to  refuse  again  when  some- 
thing crossed  his  mind,  and  he  shouted  back  to  Jen- 

229 


MARJORIE 

sen  to  know  whom  he  would  send.  Jensen,  who  had 
probably  divined  his  thoughts,  clapped  his  hand 
upon  the  shoulder  of  that  prisoner  of  his  who  sat 
by  his  side  all  in  black,  and  called  out  to  Lancelot 
that  he  proposed  to  send  the  parson  as  his  envoy. 
To  this  Lancelot  agreed,  but  I  saw  that  he  looked 
anxious,  for  it  crossed  his  mind,  as  he  afterwards 
told  me,  that  this  propositon  might  merely  serve  as 
an  excuse  for  the  pirate  boats  to  come  close,  and  so 
give  them  a  better  chance  of  attacking  us.  How- 
ever, the  pirates  made  no  such  attempt.  It  may 
be  that  Jensen,  who  was  quick  of  wit,  guessed 
Lancelot's  thought.  The  boats  remained  where 
they  were.  We  saw  the  reverend  gentleman  stand 
up.  One  of  Jensen's  fellows  untied  his  hands,  and 
then  without  more  ado  Jensen  caught  the  poor  man 
up  by  his  waistband  and  straightway  flung  him  into 
the  sea. 

A  cry  of  anger  broke  from  Lancelot's  lips  when 
he  saw  this,  for  he  feared  that  the  man  might 
drown.  But  he  was  a  fair  swimmer,  and  the  dis- 
tance was  not  so  great,  so  within  a  few  seconds  of 
his  plunge  he  found  his  depth  and  came  wading 
towards  us  with  the  water  up  to  his  middle,  looking 
as  wretched  as  a  wet  rat,  while  all  the  rogues  in  the 
boats  laughed  loud  and  long  at  the  figure  he  cut. 

230 


"LANCELOT  RUSHED  FORWARD  INTO  THE  WATER/ 


THE    BUSINESS    BEGINS 

Lancelot  rushed  forward  into  the  water  to  give 
him  his  hand,  and  so  drew  the  poor  fellow  on  to  the 
dry  land  and  amongst  us  again. 

The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  assure  us — which 
was  indeed  hardly  necessary,  considering  his  cloth 
and  his  character — that  he  was  in  no  wise  leagued 
with  the  pirates,  but  simply  and  solely  a  prisoner 
at  their  mercy,  whose  life  they  had  preserved  that 
he  might  be  of  use  to  them  as  a  hostage. 

Lancelot  called  out  to  the  pirate  boats  to  with- 
draw further  back,  which  they  did  after  he  had 
passed  his  word  that  he  would  confer  with  them 
again  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  after  he  had  heard 
what  their  envoy  had  to  say.  When  they  had  with- 
drawn out  of  gunshot,  their  scarlet  suits  glowing 
like  two  patches  of  blood  on  the  water,  then  Lance- 
lot, still  bidding  our  line  to  be  on  guard  against 
any  surprise,  withdrew  with  me  and  the  clergyman 
and  two  or  three  of  our  friends  a  little  way  up  the 
beach.  And  there  we  called  upon  Mr.  Ebrow  to 
tell  us  all  that  he  had  to  tell. 


231 


CHAPTER    XXVII 

AN   ILL  TALE 

IT  was  an  ill  tale  which  he  had  to  tell,  and  he  told  it 
awkwardly,  for  he  was  not  a  little  confused  and  put 
about,  both  by  his  wound  and  by  his  treatment  at 
the  hands  of  those  people.  We  gave  him  some- 
what to  eat  and  drink,  and  he  munched  and  sipped 
between  sentences,  for  he  had  not  fared  well  with 
the  pirates.  We  would  have  given  him  a  change  of 
raiment,  too,  after  his  ducking,  but  this  he  refused 
stiffly,  saying  that  he  was  well  enough  as  he  was,  and 
that  a  wetting  would  not  hurt  him.  And  he  was  in- 
deed a  strong,  tough  man. 

Much  of  what  he  had  to  tell  us  we  knew,  of 
course,  already — of  the  appearance  of  Jensen  on 
the  island,  of  the  attack  upon  the  colonists  and  the 
massacre  of  the  most  part  of  them.  He  himself 
had  got  his  cut  over  the  head  in  the  fight,  a  cut 
that  knocked  him  senseless,  so  that  by  the  time  he 
came  to  again  the  business  was  over  and  the  pirates 
were  masters  of  the  island. 

232 


AN    ILL   TALE 

But  he  was  able  to  tell  us  the  thing  we  most  want- 
ed to  know,  the  thing  which  the  fugitives  could  give 
us  no  inkling  of,  and  that  was  how  it  came  to  pass 
that  Jensen,  whom  we  all  deemed  dead  and 
drowned,  should  have  come  so  calamitously  to  life 
again. 

It  was,  it  seemed,  in  this  wise.  Jensen,  who  unit- 
ed a  madman's  cunning  to  a  bad  man's  daring,  saw 
that  my  suspicions  of  him  might  prove  fatal  to  his 
plans.  Those  plans  had  indeed  been,  as  I  had 
guessed,  to  seize  the  Royal  Christopher  and  make 
a  pirate  ship  of  her,  with  himself  for  her  captain; 
and  to  that  end  he  had  manned  the  ship  with  men 
upon  whom  he  could  rely,  many  of  whom  had  been 
pirates  before,  all  of  whom  were  willing  to  go  to 
any  lengths  for  the  sake  of  plunder  and  pleasure. 
But  so  long  as  our  party  were  suspicious  of  him,  and 
had  arms  in  readiness  to  shoot  him  and  his  down  at 
the  first  show  of  treachery,  it  was  plain  to  a  simpler 
man  that  his  precious  scheme  stood  every  chance  of 
coming  to  smoke. 

He  guessed,  therefore,  that  if  we  could  be  led  to 
believe  that  he  was  dead  and  done  with  our  suspi- 
cions would  be  lulled,  and  he  would  be  left  with  a 
fair  field  to  carry  out  his  plan.  To  that  end  he  de- 
vised a  scheme  to  befool  us,  and,  having  primed  his 

233 


MARJORIE 

party  as  to  his  purpose,  he  carried  it  out  with  all 
success. 

It  was  no  man's  body  that  went  overboard  on  that 
night,  but  merely  a  mighty  beam  of  wood  that  one 
of  Jensen's  confederates  cast  over  the  vessel's  side 
just  before  he  raised  the  cry  of  'Man  overboard!' 
Jensen  himself  was  snugly  concealed  in  the  inner- 
most parts  of  the  ship,  where  he  lay  close,  laughing 
in  his  sleeve  at  us  and  our  credulity.  After  we  left 
he  came  out  of  his  hole  and  made  his  way  to  Early 
Island,  as  agreed  upon  with  his  companions,  who, 
on  his  arrival,  butchered  the  most  of  the  colo- 
nists. 

One  mystery  was  disposed  of.  So  was  the  other 
mystery — how  Jensen  and  his  men  came  to  be  so 
well  armed  and  so  gaily  attired.  When  our  expedi- 
tion was  preparing,  Captain  Marmaduke  commis- 
sioned Jensen  to  buy  a  store  of  all  manner  of  agri- 
cultural and  household  implements  and  utensils  for 
the  use  of  the  young  colony.  Now,  as  such  gear 
was  not  likely  to  be  of  service  to  Jensen  in  his 
piracies,  he  was  at  pains  to  serve  his  own  ends  while 
he  pretended  to  obey  the  Captain's  commands. 

He  had  therefore  made  up  and  committed  to  the 
hold  a  quantity  of  cases  which  professed  to  contain 
what  the  Captain  had  commanded.  But  never  a 

234 


AN    ILL   TALE 

spade  or  pick,  never  a  roasting-jack  or  flat-iron, 
never  a  string  of  beads  or  a  mirror  for  barter  with 
natives  was  to  be  found  in  all  those  boxes.  If  our 
colony  had  ever  by  any  chance  arrived  at  their  goal 
they  would  have  found  themselves  in  sore  straits 
for  the  means  of  tilling  the  earth  and  of  cooking 
their  food. 

The  boxes  contained  instead  a  great  quantity  of 
arms,  such  as  muskets  and  pistols  and  cutlasses,  to- 
gether with  abundance  of  ammunition  in  the  shape 
of  powder,  bullets  and  shot.  Others  of  those  boxes 
contained  goodlier  gear,  for  Jensen  was  a  vain 
rogue  as  well  as  a  clever  rogue,  and  dearly  loved 
brave  colours  about  him  and  to  make  a  gaudy  show. 
I  believe  that  it  was  a  passion  for  power  and  the 
pomp  that  accompanies  power  more  than  anything 
else  which  drove  him  to  be  a  pirate,  and  that  if  he 
could  have  been,  say,  a  great  Minister  of  State, 
who  is,  after  all,  often  only  another  kind  of  pirate, 
he  might  have  carried  himself  very  well  and  been 
looked  upon  by  the  world  at  large  as  a  very  decent, 
public-spirited  sort  of  fellow.  I  have  known  men 
in  high  office  with  just  such  passion  for  display  and 
dominion  as  Jensen,  and  I  do  not  think  that  there  is 
much  to  choose  between  him  and  them  in  that  re- 
gard. 

235 


MARJORIE 

So  sundry  of  those  lying  boxes  were  loaded  with 
gay  clothing,  such  as  those  scarlet  coats  with  which 
we  had  now  made  acquaintance,  and  which  were 
fashioned  on  the  pattern  of  those  of  the  bodyguard 
of  His  Majesty,  only  much  more  flauntingly  tricked 
out  with  gold  lace  and  gilded  buttons.  It  added  a 
shade  of  darkness  to  the  treachery  of  this  scoundrel 
that  he  should  thus  presume  to  parade  himself  in 
a  parody  of  such  a  uniform. 

But  besides  all  this  there  was  yet  another  secret 
which  those  same  false  coffers  concealed.  He  had 
dealings  with  shipbuilders  at  Haarlem,  who  were 
noted  for  their  ingenuity  and  address,  and  this  firm 
had  built  for  him  two  large  skiffs,  which  were  made 
in  such  a  fashion  that  the  major  part  of  them  could 
be  taken  to  pieces  and  the  whole  packed  away  in  a 
small  space  with  safety  and  convenience  for  his 
purpose.  These  vessels  were  as  easily  put  together 
as  taken  to  pieces,  and  were  as  serviceable  a  kind 
of  boat  as  ever  vessel  carried.  And  so  there  was 
the  rascal  well  prepared  to  make  sure  of  our  ship. 

It  makes  my  heart  bleed  now,  after  all  these 
years,  to  think  how  the  fellow  deceived  my  dear 
patron,  and  how  the  Royal  Christopher  went  sail- 
ing the  seas  with  that  secret  in  her  womb,  and 
that  we  all  walked  those  decks  night  after  night  and 

236 


AN    ILL   TALE 

day  after  day,  and  never  suspected  the  treason  that 
lay  beneath  our  feet. 

But  we  never  did  suspect  it,  and  when  the  time 
came  for  us  to  leave  the  ship  in  a  hurry  we  had  little 
thought  in  our  minds  of  taking  agricultural  imple- 
ments or  household  gear  or  articles  of  barter  with 
us.  So  they  lay  there  snugly  in  the  hold,  and  Jensen 
with  them,  and  Jensen  was  busy  and  happy  in  his 
wicked  way  in  getting  at  them,  and  in  laughing  as 
he  did  so  over  our  folly  in  being  deceived  by  him. 

It  seems  that  after  the  departure  of  Lancelot  and 
our  little  party  certain  of  the  sailors,  as  agreed  upon 
beforehand,  made  their  way  back  to  the  ship,  and  in 
the  dead  of  night  transported  the  greater  quantity 
of  the  weapons  and  ammunition.  They  put  the 
skiffs  together,  too,  and  lowered  them  over  the  side. 
The  camp  had  gone  to  rest  when  Jensen,  shrieking 
like  a  fiend,  leaped  from  his  concealment  among 
the  trees  and  gave  the  signal  for  attack.  The  butch- 
ery was  brief.  The  few  men  who  were  armed 
found  that  their  weapons  had  been  rendered  useless, 
but  even  if  their  murderers  had  not  taken  that  pre- 
caution their  victims  could  have  made  no  sort  of  a 
stand.  They  were  taken  by  surprise.  The  horrible 
cries  that  the  pirates  made  as  they  rushed  from  their 
ambush  helped  to  dishearten  the  colonists,  for  they 

237 


MARJORIE 

took  those  noises  for  the  war-cries  of  savages,  and 
they  yielded  to  the  panic.  A  very  few  escaped  from 
the  slaughter,  and  hid  themselves  in  the  woods  in 
the  centre  of  the  island.  The  manner  of  their  es- 
cape I  have  already  related.  It  seemed  from  what 
the  parson  now  told  us  that  Jensen  made  little  effort 
to  pursue  them,  feeling  confident  that  they  must 
perish  miserably  from  hunger  and  thirst,  if  not 
from  wild  beasts,  in  the  jungle. 

The  first  use  Jensen  made  of  his  triumph  was  to 
bring  over  to  the  island  from  the  wreck  everything 
that  he  believed  to  be  needful  for  the  comfort  and 
adornment  of  his  person  and  the  persons  of  his  fol- 
lowing. All  the  arms  and  ammunition  that  his 
malign  thoughtfulness  had  provided,  all  the  fine 
clothes  that  he  had  hidden  away,  all  the  store  of 
wines  and  strong  waters  that  still  remained  upon  the 
ship  were  carefully  disembarked  and  brought  to 
Early  Island.  He  dressed  himself  and  his  follow- 
ers up  in  the  smart  clothes  that  we  had  seen,  called 
himself  king  of  the  island,  made  his  companions 
take  a  solemn  oath  of  allegiance  to  him  and  sign 
it  with  their  blood,  and  then  they  all  gave  them- 
selves up  to  an  orgie. 

For,  bad  as  all  this  was  to  tell  and  to  listen  to, 
there  was  still  worse  to  be  told  and  heard.  To 

238 


AN    ILL   TALE 

treachery  and  bloodshed  were  added  treachery  and 
lust.  The  cup  of  Jensen's  iniquity  was  more  than 
full.  It  ran  over  and  was  spilt  upon  the  ground, 
crying  out  to  Heaven  for  vengeance. 

There  were,  as  you  know,  women  among  our 
colonists — not  many,  but  still  some,  the  wives  of 
some  of  the  settlers,  the  daughters  and  sisters  of 
others.  None  of  these  were  hurt  when  Jensen  and 
his  fellow-fiends  made  their  attack — none  of  them, 
unhappily  for  themselves,  were  killed.  My  cheeks 
blazed  with  shame  and  wrath  as  I  listened  to  what 
the  parson  had  to  say,  and  if  Jensen  had  been  before 
me  I  would  have  been  rejoiced  to  pistol  him  with  my 
own  hand. 

The  women  were  parcelled  out  among  the  men  as 
the  best  part  of  their  booty.  There  was  not  a 
wickeder  place  on  God's  earth  at  that  hour  than 
the  island,  and  its  sins,  as  I  thought,  should  be  blot- 
ted out  by  a  thunderbolt  from  Heaven. 

Yet  there  is  something  still  worse  to  come,  as  I 
take  it.  In  all  this  infamy  Jensen  reserved  for  him- 
self the  privilege  of  a  deeper  degree  of  infamy. 
For  he  told  Hatchett,  it  seems,  that  he  must  give  up 
Barbara,  and  when  Hatchett  laughed  in  his  face 
Jensen  shot  him  dead  where  he  stood  and  took  her 
by  force.  Such  was  the  terror  the  man  inspired  that 

239 


MARJORIE 

no  one  of  all  his  fellows  presumed  to  avenge  Hatch- 
ett,  or  even  to  protest  against  the  manner  of  his 
death.  As  for  the  woman,  as  for  Barbara,  she  was 
a  strong  woman,  and  she  loved  Hatchett  with  all 
her  heart,  and  she  fought,  I  believe,  hard.  But 
if  she  was  strong,  Jensen  was  stronger,  and  merci- 
less. He  had  everything  his  own  way  at  the  island ; 
he  had  his  arts  of  taming  people,  and  the  parson 
told  me  that  he  had  tamed  Barbara. 

I  have  had  to  set  these  wrongs  down  here  for  the 
sake  of  truth,  and  to  justify  our  final  deeds  against 
Jensen  and  his  gang.  I  have  set  them  down  as 
barely  and  as  briefly  as  possible,  for  there  are  some 
things  so  terrible  that  they  scarcely  bear  the  telling. 
I  cannot  be  more  particular;  the  whole  bad  busi- 
ness was  hideous  in  the  extreme,  with  all  the  hide- 
ousness  that  could  come  from  a  mind  like  Jensen's 
— a  mind  begotten  of  the  Bottomless  Pit. 

But  in  all  my  sorrow  I  was  grateful  to  Heaven 
that  Marjorie  had  not  been  left  upon  that  other 
island.  Better  for  her  to  die  here  by  the  hand  of 
the  man  who  loved  her  than  to  have  been  on  that 
island  at  the  mercy  of  such  men.  Thank  God, 
thank  God,  thank  God !  I  said  to  myself  again  and 
again.  I  could  say  nothing  more,  I  could  think 
nothing  more,  only  thank  God,  thank  God  I 

240 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

WE    DEFY   JENSEN 

THAT  unhappy  Barbara !  Her  sin  had  found  her 
out  indeed.  She  was  a  wicked  woman,  for  she  had 
been  part  and  parcel  in  the  treason,  she  had  been 
hand  and  glove  with  the  traitors.  But  she  did  not 
mean  such  wickedness  to  the  women-folk,  and  she 
did  what  she  had  done  for  her  husband's  sake, 
thinking  that  he  would  be  a  pirate  king  and  she  his 
consort.  This  was  what  she  meant  when  she  had 
called  herself  a  queen.  With  such  falsehoods  had 
Jensen  stuffed  the  ears  of  the  man  and  his  wife, 
snaring  them  to  their  fate.  As  I  had  loved  her 
once,  so  I  pitied  her  now.  She  had  shared  in  a 
great  crime,  but  it  would  be  hard  to  shape  a  greater 
penalty  for  her  sin. 

By  the  time  that  the  parson  had  finished  his 
story  we  who  were  listening  to  him  felt  dismal,  and 
we  looked  at  each  other  grimly. 

'What  is  the  first  thing  to  be  done?'  Lancelot 
said  softly,  more  to  himself  than  as  really  asking 
any  advice  upon  the  matter  from  us. 

241 


MARJORIE 

'Fire  a  volley  upon  those  devils  when  they  draw 
near,  and  so  rid  the  earth  of  them,'  I  suggested. 

Lancelot  shook  his  head. 

'They  are  under  the  protection  of  a  flag  of 
truce '  he  began,  when  I  interrupted  him  hotly. 

'What  right,'  I  raged  at  him,  'what  right  have 
such  devils  to  the  consideration  of  honourable  war- 
fare and  of  honourable  men?' 

Lancelot  sighed. 

'None  whatever;  but  that  does  not  change  us 
from  being  honourable  men  and  from  carrying  on 
our  contest  according  to  the  rules  of  honourable 
warfare.  They  are  devils,  ruffians,  what  you  will, 
but  we — we  are  gentlemen,  and  we  have  passed 
our  word.  We  cannot  go  back  from  that.' 

I  know  very  well  that  I  blushed  a  fiery  red,  from 
rage  against  our  enemy  and  shame  at  Lancelot's 
reproof.  But  I  said  nothing,  and  Mr.  Ebrow 
spoke. 

'Mr.  Amber,'  he  said,  clasping  Lancelot's  hand 
as  he  spoke,  'you  are  in  the  right,  in  the  very  right, 
as  a  Christian  soldier  and  a  Christian  gentleman. 
Their  hour  will  come  without  our  anticipating  it.' 
And  then  he  wrung  my  hand  warmly,  in  token 
that  he  understood  my  feelings  too,  and  did  not 
overmuch  blame  me. 

242 


WE    DEFY   JENSEN 

'One  thing  at  least  is  certain,'  said  Lancelot. 
'You  must  not  return  to  the  mercies  of  those  vil- 
lains.' 

Mr.  Ebrow  drew  himself  stiffly  up.  He  was 
wet  and  weary,  and  the  ugly  cut  on  his  forehead 
did  not  add  to  the  charm  of  his  rugged  face,  but 
just  at  that  moment  he  seemed  handsome. 

'Mr.  Amber,'  he  said,  'I  passed  my  word  to 
those  men  that  I  would  return  after  I  had  given 
you  their  message,  and  I  will  keep  my  word.' 

'But,'  said  Lancelot,  'they  will  kill  you  !' 

'It  is  possible,'  said  the  man  of  God  calmly.  'It 
is  very  probable.  But  I  have  in  my  mind  the  con- 
duct of  the  Roman  Regulus.  Should  I,  who  am 
a  minister  of  Christ,  be  less  nice  in  my  honour  than 
a  Pagan?' 

'Nay,  but  if  we  were  to  restrain  you  by  force?' 
asked  Lancelot. 

'Mr.  Amber,'  Ebrow  answered,  'it  was  your 
duty  just  now  to  administer  a  reproof  to  your 
friend;  I  hope  you  will  not  force  me  to  reprove 
you  in  your  turn.  I  have  given  my  word,  and 
there  is  an  end  of  it;  and  if  you  were  to  hold  me 
by  the  strong  hand  I  should  think  you  more  worthy 
to  consort  with  those  pirates  than  with  me.' 

243 


MARJORIE 

It  was  now  Lancelot's  turn  to  blush.  Then  he 
gripped  Mr.  Ebrow's  hand. 

'I  beg  your  pardon,'  he  said,  and  there  were 
tears  in  his  eyes  as  he  spoke.  'You  have  taught 
me  a  noble  lesson.' 

Mr.  Ebrow  seemed  as  if  he  would  be  going,  but 
I  stayed  him. 

'Reverend  sir,'  said  I,  'may  I  make  so  bold  as 
to  ask  what  is  this  message  that  you  have  to  deliver 
to  us  ?' 

For,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  had  so  plied  him 
with  questions,  and  he  had  been  so  busy  in  an- 
swering us,  that  he  had  not  as  yet  delivered  to  us 
the  pirates'  message,  of  which  he  was  the  spokes- 
man. 

There  came  a  spot  of  colour  on  his  grey  jaws 
as  I  spoke. 

'True.  I  fear  I  make  but  a  poor  intermediary/ 
he  said.  'The  pirates  propose,  in  the  first  place, 
that  you  make  common  cause  with  them,  and  recog- 
nise the  authority  of  Cornelys  Jensen  as  your  cap- 
tain, in  the  which  case  Cornelys  Jensen  guarantees 
you  your  share  of  the  spoiling  of  the  Royal  Chris- 
topher, and  in  future  a  fitting  proportion  of  what- 
ever profits  may  come  from  their  enterprises.' 

244 


WE    DEFY   JENSEN 

'I  suppose  you  do  not  expect  us  to  consider  that 
proposition?'  said  Lancelot. 

Mr.  Ebrow  almost  smiled. 

'No,  indeed,'  he  said,  'and  I  do  but  discharge 
my  promise  in  repeating  it  to  you.  I  must  tell 
you  too  that  he  added  that  he  was  wishful  to  make 
your  sister  his  wife.' 

There  came  into  Lancelot's  eyes  the  ugliest  look 
I  ever  saw  there,  and  for  myself  I  know  not  how 
I  looked,  I  know  only  how  I  felt,  and  I  will  not 
put  my  feelings  into  words.  I  suppose  Mr.  Ebrow 
understood  us  and  our  silence,  for  he  went  on  with 
his  embassy.  'In  the  second  place,  then,  they  call 
upon  you  to  swear  that  you  will  take  no  part 
against  them,  and  will,  on  the  contrary,  do  your 
endeavour  to  protect  them  in  case  they  should  be 
attacked  by  other  forces.' 

'That  also  needs  no  consideration,'  said  Lance- 
lot. 

Mr.  Ebrow  nodded. 

'Of  course  not,  of  course  not.  Then,  in  the 
third  place,  they  call  upon  you  to  throw  down  your 
weapons  and  to  surrender  yourselves  to  them  as 
prisoners  of  war,  in  which  case  they  pledge  them- 
selves to  respect  your  lives  and  preserve  you  all 
as  hostages  for  their  own  safety.' 

245 


MARJORIE 

'And  if  we  refuse  even  this  offer,'  Lancelot 
asked,  'what  is  to  happen  then  ?' 

'In  that  case,'  said  Mr.  Ebrow,  'they  declare 
war  against  you;  they  will  give  you  no  quar- 
ter  ' 

'Let  them  wait  till  they  are  asked!'  I  broke  in; 
but  Lancelot  rested  his  hand  restrainingly  upon 
my  arm. 

'As  for  the  matter  of  quarter,'  he  said,  'it  may 
prove  in  the  end  more  our  business  to  give  it  than 
to  seek  for  it.  Quarter  we  may  indeed  give  in 
this  sense,  that  even  those  villains  shall  not  be 
killed  in  cold  blood  if  they  are  willing  to  surren- 
der. But  every  man  that  we  take  prisoner  shall 
most  assuredly  be  tried  for  his  life  for  piracy  and 
murder  upon  the  high  seas.  Will  you  be  so  good 
as  to  tell  those  men  from  me  that  if  they  at  once 
surrender  the  person  of  Cornelys  Jensen  and  their 
own  weapons  they  shall  be  treated  humanely,  kept 
in  decent  confinement,  and  shall  have  the  benefit 
of  their  conduct  when  the  time  for  trial  comes? 
But  this  offer  will  not  hold  good  after  to-day,  and 
if  they  attempt  again  to  approach  the  island  they 
shall  be  fired  upon.' 

'Well  and  good,  sir,'  said  Mr.  Ebrow.  'Have 
you  anything  more  to  say,  for  my  masters  did  but 

246 


WE   DEFY   JENSEN 

give  me  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  I  feel  sure  that 
my  time  must  be  expired  by  now?' 

'Only  this,'  answered  Lancelot,  'that  if  they 
want  to  fly  their  black  flag  over  this  island  they 
must  come  and  take  it  from  us.' 

I  never  saw  Lancelot  look  more  gallant,  with 
courage  and  hope  in  his  mien,  and  the  soft  wind 
fretting  his  hair.  But  the  brightness  faded  away 
from  his  face  a  moment  after  as  he  added : 

'It  grieves  me  to  heart,  sir,  that  you  have  to 
return  to  those  ruffians.' 

Mr.  Ebrow  extended  his  hand  to  Lancelot  with 
a  wintry  smile. 

'It  is  my  duty.  I  do  but  follow  my  Master's 
orders,  to  do  all  in  His  Name  and  for  His  glory.' 

He  wrung  Lancelot's  hand  and  mine,  and  the 
hand  of  every  man  in  our  troop.  He  gave  us  his 
blessing,  and  then,  turning,  walked  with  erect  head 
to  the  sea. 

As  soon  as  the  pirates  saw  him  coming  they 
rowed  their  boat  a  little  nearer  in,  when  they  rested 
on  their  oars,  while  we  stood  to  our  guns  and  the 
parson  waded  steadily  out  into  the  deeper  water. 

When  he  reached  their  boat  they  dragged  him 
on  board  roughly,  and  we  could  see  from  their 

247 


MARJORIE 

gestures  and  his  that  he  was  telling  them  the  result 
of  the  interview  with  us. 

The  telling  did  not  seem  to  give  any  great  satis- 
faction to  the  villains,  and  least  of  all  to  Jensen, 
for  he  struck  the  parson  a  heavy  blow  in  the  face 
with  his  clenched  hand  that  felled  him,  tumbling 
down  among  the  rowers.  Then  Jensen  turned  and 
shook  his  fist  in  our  direction,  and  shouted  out 
something  that  we  could  not  hear  because  of  the 
distance  and  the  slight  wind. 

It  seemed  to  me  as  if  for  a  moment  Jensen  had 
a  mind  to  order  his  boats  to  advance  and  try  to 
effect  a  landing,  and  I  wished  this  in  my  heart,  for 
I  was  eager  to  come  to  blows  with  the  villains,  and 
confident  that  we  should  prove  a  match  for  them. 

But  it  would  seem  as  if  discretion  were  to  pre- 
vail with  them,  in  which,  indeed,  they  were  wise, 
for  to  attempt  to  land  even  a  more  numerous  force 
in  the  face  of  our  well-armed  men  would  have  been 
rash  and  a  rough  business.  We  saw  the  boats 
sweep  round  and  row  rapidly  away,  and  we 
watched  those  scarlet  coats  dwindle  into  red  spots 
in  the  distance. 


248 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

THE    ATTACK    AT    LAST 

IN  what  I  am  going  to  tell  there  will  be  little  of 
Marjorie  for  a  while,  for  sorely  against  her  will 
we  refused  to  rank  her  as  a  fighting  man  and  made 
her  keep  within  shelter,  though  busy  in  many  ways 
making  ready  for  the  inevitable  attack. 

Nothing  happened  on  the  next  day  or  the  next 
to  disturb  our  quiet  and  the  beauty  of  the  weather. 
For  all  that  was  evident  to  the  contrary  we  might 
very  well  have  been  the  sole  inhabitants  of  that 
archipelago,  the  sole  children  of  those  seas,  with 
Marjorie  for  our  queen. 

We  did  not  hope,  however,  nor  indeed  did  we 
wish,  that  we  had  heard  the  last  of  our  enemies. 
There  was  a  moment  even  when  Lancelot  consid- 
ered the  feasibility  of  our  making  an  attack  upon 
Early  Island  in  the  hope  of  rescuing  some  of  the 
captives.  But  the  plan  was  only  suggested  to  be 
dismissed.  For  every  argument  which  told  against 
their  attempting  to  make  an  attack  upon  us  told 

249 


MARJORIE 

with  ten  times  greater  force  against  our  making  an 
attack  upon  them.  They  outnumbered  us;  they 
were  perhaps  better  armed.  The  odds  were  too 
heavily  against  us.  But  our  hearts  burnt  within  us 
at  the  thought  of  the  captives. 

We  had  evidently  come  in  for  one  of  those  spells 
of  fine  weather  which  in  those  regions  so  often  fol- 
low upon  such  a  storm  as  had  proved  the  undoing 
of  the  Royal  Christopher.  If  the  conditions  had 
been  different  our  lives  would  have  been  sufficiently 
enviable.  Fair  Island  deserves  its  name;  we  had 
summer,  food  and  water;  so  far  as  material  com- 
fort went,  all  was  well  with  us. 

But  mere  material  comfort  could  not  cheer  us 
much.  We  were  in  peril  ourselves;  we  were  yet 
more  concerned  for  the  peril  of  Captain  Amber, 
of  whose  fortunes  and  whose  whereabouts  we  knew 
absolutely  nothing.  If  he  failed  to  meet  a  ship 
he  was  to  return  to  Early  Island.  What  might  not 
be  his  fate  ?  To  diminish  in  some  degree  the  chance 
of  this  catastrophe,  we  resolved  to  erect  some  signal 
on  the  highest  point  of  Fair  Island,  in  the  hope 
that  it  would  have  the  result  of  attracting  his  at- 
tention and  leading  him  to  suppose  that  the  whole 
of  the  ship's  company  were  settled  down  there. 

There  was  no  difficulty  in  the  making  of  such 
250 


THE   ATTACK    AT    LAST 

a  signal.  We  had  a  flag  with  us  in  the  boat,  and 
all  that  it  was  necessary  to  do  was  to  fix  it  to  the 
summit  of  one  of  the  tall  trees  that  crowned  the 
hill  which  sprang  from  the  centre  of  Fair  Island. 
In  a  few  hours  the  flag  was  flying  gallantly  enough 
from  its  primitive  flag-staff,  a  sufficiently  conspicu- 
ous object  even  with  a  gentle  breeze  to  serve,  as 
we  hoped,  our  turn. 

In  the  two  days  that  followed  upon  the  visit  of 
the  pirates  we  were  busy  victualling  the  stockade 
and  supplying  it  with  water,  looking  to  our  arms 
and  ammunition,  and,  which  was  of  first  impor- 
tance, in  building  a  strong  fence,  loopholed  like  the 
stockade.  This  fence  or  wall  led  down  to  where 
our  boat  lay,  and  enabled  us  to  protect  it  from 
any  attempt  of  the  pirates  to  carry  it  off  or  to  de- 
stroy it.  In  work  of  this  kind  the  eight-and- forty 
hours  passed  away  as  swiftly  as  if  they  had  been 
but  so  many  minutes. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  all  our  prepa- 
rations were  completed,  and  I  was  convinced  that 
within  that  stockade  our  scanty  force  could  keep 
the  pirates  at  bay  for  a  month  of  Sundays,  so 
long  as  they  did  not  suceed  in  getting  sufficiently 
close  to  employ  fire  as  a  means  of  forcing  an  en- 
trance. But  though  I  felt  cheered  I  noticed  that 

251 


MARJORIE 

there  was  no  corresponding  cheerfulness  in  Lance- 
lot's face.  He  never  looked  despondent,  but  he 
looked  dissatisfied. 

I  drew  him  aside  and  asked  what  troubled  him. 

'The  moon  troubles  me,'  he  answered. 

'The  moon !'  I  said  in  astonishment. 

'Yes,'  he  answered,  'the  moon — or  rather,  the 
absence  of  the  moon.  Last  night  was  the  moon's 
last  night,  and  to-night  we  shall  be  in  darkness  after 
sunset.  It  is  under  cover  of  that  darkness  that, 
some  time  or  another,  to-night  or  another  night, 
sooner  or  later,  the  pirates  will  make  an  attempt 
to  land.  For  you  may  be  sure  that  they  have  not 
forgotten  us,  and  that  they  would  be  glad  enough 
to  pull  down  yonder  flag.' 

I  felt  in  my  heart  that  what  Lancelot  said  was 
true  enough,  but  I  tried  to  put  a  bold  face  upon  it. 

'After  all,'  I  said,  'the  darkness  will  be  as  bad 
for  them  as  it  is  for  us.' 

'No,'  Lancelot  said;  'they  can  steer  well  enough 
by  the  stars.  If  I  thought  that  they  could  get  round 
to  the  back  of  the  island  and  fall  upon  us  that  way, 
I  should  feel  that  we  were  in  a  very  bad  case  indeed. 
But  of  that  I  have  no  fear.  There  is  no  place  for 
landing  in  that  part,  and  if  there  were  they  would 
find  it  hard  enough  to  force  their  way  through  the 

252 


THE   ATTACK   AT    LAST 

woods.  No,  no;  they  will  come  as  they  came 
before.' 

I  asked  him  what  he  thought  was  the  best  thing 
to  do.  He  replied  that  the  only  thing  was  to  keep 
a  very  sharp  look-out,  and  to  fight  hard  if  it  came 
to  fighting,  a  pithy  sentence,  which  seemed  to  me 
to  sum  up  the  whole  art  of  war — at  least,  so  far  as 
we  were  concerned  who  dwelt  on  Fair  Island.  To 
make  assurance  doubly  sure,  however,  Lancelot  did 
during  the  day  place  a  man  by  the  flag-staff,  from 
which  point,  as  the  hill  ran  up  into  a  high  peak,  he 
would  be  able  to  sweep  the  sea  in  all  directions. 
With  regard  to  the  night,  Lancelot  showed  me  how 
fortunate  it  was  that  he  had  brought  the  fireworks 
with  us,  as,  at  a  pinch,  in  the  darkness,  we  could 
get  a  gleam  of  light  for  a  minute  by  firing  them. 

I  was  getting  so  unstrung  by  all  these  alarms  and 
watchings  that  I  began  to  wish  that  the  pirates 
would  come  once  for  all  that  we  might  have  done 
with  them.  For  I  had  confidence  in  our  side  and 
the  certainty  of  its  winning  which  was  scarcely  logi- 
cal, maybe,  but  which,  after  all,  I  think  is  a  great 
deal  better  than  feeling  suspicious  of  the  strength 
of  one's  own  side  or  speculative  as  to  the  merits 
of  one's  own  cause. 

How  often  afterward,  in  other  places  and  amid 
253 


MARJORIE 

perils  as  great,  or  indeed  ten  times  greater,  have 
I  remembered  that  night  with  all  its  agony  of  ex- 
pectation ! 

The  main  part  of  our  little  garrison  was  en- 
sconced in  the  stockade  and  sleeping,  or  seeking  to 
sleep,  for  every  man  of  us  knew  well  enough  that 
he  needed  to  have  all  his  energies  when  the  struggle 
came,  and  that  the  more  rest  he  got  beforehand 
the  better  the  fighting  trim  he  would  be  in  after- 
ward. 

We  had  sentinels  posted  at  different  points  along 
that  portion  of  the  coast  where  landing  was  pos- 
sible, and  though  we  had  been  grateful  to  it  before 
for  being  such  an  easy  place  to  land  upon,  we  could 
almost  have  wished  in  our  hearts  now  that  it  had 
been  less  easy  of  access. 

In  front  of  the  stockade,  but  some  considerable 
distance  from  it,  and  on  the  sloping  land  that  was 
nigh  to  the  beach,  we  had  thrown  up  a  kind  of 
intrenchment,  behind  which  we  could  kneel  and 
fire,  and  under  whose  cover  we  hoped  to  be  able 
to  make  a  good  account  of  assailants.  I  was  on 
guard  here  at  night,  and  I  paced  up  and  down  in 
front  of  it  thinking  of  all  the  chances  that  had 
happened  since  I  sailed  in  the  Royal  Christopher; 
and  I  pleased  myself  by  recalling  every  word  that 

254 


THE   ATTACK   AT   LAST 

Marjorie  had  said  to  me,  or  in  thinking  of  all 
the  words  that  I  should  like  to  say  to  her. 

Suddenly  my  thoughts  were  brought  from 
heaven  to  earth  by  a  sound  as  of  a  splash  in  the 
water.  It  might  have  been  but  a  sweep  of  a 
sea-bird's  wing  as  it  stooped  and  wheeled  in  its 
flight  over  the  sea,  but  it  set  my  pulses  tingling 
and  all  my  senses  straining  to  hear  more  and  to 
see  something. 

The  sea  that  lay  so  little  away  from  me  was  all 
swallowed  up  in  darkness.  I  could  see  nothing 
to  cause  me  alarm.  The  quiet  of  the  night  seemed 
to  breathe  a  deep  peace  that  invited  only  to 
thoughts  of  sleep.  But  I  was  as  wide  awake  as  a 
startled  hare,  and  I  listened  with  all  my  ears  and 
peered  into  the  blackness.  Was  it  my  heated 
fancy,  I  asked  myself,  or  did  I  indeed  hear  faint 
sounds  coming  to  me  from  where  the  sea  lay  ? 

I  whistled  softly  a  note  something  like  our  Eng- 
lish starling's — a  signal  that  had  been  agreed  upon 
between  Lancelot  and  me.  In  a  very  few  seconds 
he  was  at  my  side. 

As  I  told  him  of  my  suspicions  Lancelot  peered 
into  the  darkness,  listening  very  carefully,  and  now 
both  he  and  I  felt  certain  that  we  could  hear  sounds, 
indistinct  but  regular,  coming  from  the  sea. 

255 


MARJORIE 

'They  are  doing  what  I  thought  they  would,* 
Lancelot  whispered  to  me.  Lancelot's  voice  had 
this  rare  quality,  that  when  he  whispered  every 
syllable  was  as  clear  as  if  he  were  crying  from  the 
housetops.  'They  have  chosen  this  dark  night  to 
attack  us,  and  they  are  rowing  with  muffled  oars. 
We  must  do  our  best  to  give  them  a  wild  welcome. 
It  is  well  we  have  those  fireworks ;  they  will  serve 
our  turn  now.' 

He  slipped  away  from  my  side  and  was  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  darkness.  But  he  soon  came  back 
to  my  side. 

'All  is  ready,'  he  said. 

He  had  been  from  man  to  man,  and  now  every 
one  was  at  his  post.  The  bulk  of  our  little  body 
crouched  down  behind  the  breastwork  while  four 
men  were  stationed  by  the  open  gates  of  the  stock- 
ade to  allow  us  to  make  our  retreat  there.  Those 
who  were  behind  the  breastwork  knew  that  when 
Lancelot  gave  the  word  they  were  to  fire  in  the 
direction  of  the  sea.  Lancelot  had  his  lights  ready, 
and  we  waited  anxiously  for  the  flare. 

The  seconds  seemed  to  lengthen  out  into  cen- 
turies as  we  lay  there,  listening  to  those  sounds 
growing  louder,  though  even  at  their  loudest  they 
might  very  well  have  escaped  notice  if  one  were 

256 


THE   ATTACK   AT    LAST 

not  watching  for  them.  At  last  they  came  to  an 
end  altogether,  and  we  could  just  catch  a  sound  as 
of  a  succession  of  soft  splashes  in  the  water. 

Lancelot  whispered  close  to  my  ear:  'They 
are  getting  out  in  the  shallow  water  to  draw  their 
boats  in.  We  shall  have  a  look  at  them  in  an 
instant.' 

While  I  held  my  breath  I  was  conscious  that 
Lancelot  was  busy  with  his  flint  and  steel.  His 
was  a  sure  hand  and  a  firm  stroke.  I  could  hear 
the  click  as  he  struck  stone  and  metal  together; 
there  was  a  gleam  of  fire  as  the  fuse  caught,  and 
then  in  another  instant  one  of  his  fireworks  rose 
in  a  blaze  of  brightness.  It  only  lasted  for  the 
space  of  a  couple  of  seconds,  but  in  that  space  of 
time  it  showed  us  all  that  we  had  to  see  and  much 
more  than  we  wished  to  see. 

As  our  meteor  soared  in  the  air  the  space  in  front 
of  us  was  lit  with  a  light  as  clear  as  the  light  of 
dawn,  though  in  colour  it  was  more  like  that  of  the 
moon — at  least,  as  I  have  seen  her  rays  represented 
often  enough  since  in  stage  plays.  Before  us  the 
sea  rippled  gently  against  the  sand,  and  in  the 
shallows  we  saw  the  pirates  as  clearly  as  we  had 
seen  them  on  the  day  when  they  first  came  to  the 
island, 

257 


MARJORIE 

There  were  now  three  boatloads  of  them,  and 
the  boats  were  more  fully  manned  than  before. 
Many  of  the  men  were  still  in  the  boats,  but  the 
greater  part  were  in  the  water,  barelegged,  and 
were  stealthily  urging  the  boats  ashore.  They  were 
doing  the  work  quietly,  and  made  little  noise.  It 
was  the  strangest  sight  I  had  ever  seen,  this  sight 
of  those  men  in  their  scarlet  coats,  that  looked 
so  glaring  in  that  blue  light,  with  their  gleaming 
weapons,  all  moving  towards  us  with  murder  in 
their  minds. 

In  their  amazement  at  the  flame  the  pirates 
paused  for  an  instant,  and  in  that  instant  Lancelot 
gave  the  order  we  itched  for. 

'Fire!' 

Then  the  silence  was  shattered  by  the  discharge 
of  our  pieces  in  a  steady  volley.  All  the  island 
rang  with  the  report,  and  at  that  very  instant  the 
rocket  on  its  home  curve  faded  and  went  out  with 
a  kind  of  wink,  and  darkness  swallowed  us  all  up 
again. 

But  what  darkness!  The  darkness  had  been 
still;  now  it  was  full  of  noises.  The  echo  of  the 
report  of  our  volley  rang  about  us;  from  the 
woods  came  clamour,  the  screaming  and  chattering 
of  wakened  birds,  and  we  could  even  hear  the 

258 


THE    ATTACK   AT    LAST 

brushing  of  their  wings  as  they  flew  from  tree  to 
tree  in  their  terror.  But  in  front  of  us  the  sounds 
were  the  most  terrible  of  all ;  the  splashing  of  bodies 
falling  into  the  water,  the  shrieks  of  wounded  men, 
the  howls  and  curses  of  the  astonished  and  infuri- 
ated enemy.  We  could  not  tell  what  hurt  we  had 
done,  but  it  must  have  been  grave,  for  we  had 
fired  at  close  range,  and  we  were  all  good  marks- 
men. 

But  we  could  not  hope  that  we  had  crippled  our 
invaders,  or  done  much  toward  equalising  our 
forces.  For,  as  it  had  seemed  in  that  moment  of 
illumination,  we  were  outnumbered  by  well-nigh 
two  to  one. 

There  was  no  need  to  fire  another  light;  it  was 
impossible  that  we  could  hope  to  hold  our  own  in 
the  open,  and  our  enemies  would  be  upon  us  before 
we  had  time  to  reload,  so  there  was  nothing  for  it 
but  to  retreat  to  the  stockade  with  all  speed. 

Lancelot  gave  the  order,  and  in  another  instant 
we  were  racing  for  the  stockade,  bending  low  as 
we  ran,  for  the  pirates  had  begun  to  fire  in  our 
direction.  But  their  firing  was  wild,  and  it  hit  none 
of  us;  and  it  stopped  as  suddenly  as  it  began,  for 
they  soon  perceived  that  it  was  idle  waste  of  powder 
and  ball  in  shooting  into  the  darkness. 

259 


MARJORIE 

Luckily  for  us,  we  knew  every  inch  of  our  terri- 
tory by  heart,  and  could  make  our  way  well  enough 
to  the  stockade  in  the  gloom,  while  we  could  hear 
the  pirates  behind  splashing  and  stumbling  as  they 
landed. 

But  as  they  were  taken  aback  by  the  suddenness 
of  our  assault  and  its  result,  they  were  not  eager  to 
advance  into  the  night,  and,  as  I  guessed,  waited 
awhile  after  landing  from  their  boats. 

As  for  us,  we  did  not  pause  until  we  had  passed, 
every  one  of  us,  between  the  gates  of  our  stockade, 
and  heard  them  close  behind  us,  and  the  bar  fall 
into  its  place.  The  first  thing  I  saw  in  the  dim 
light  was  the  face  of  Marjorie,  fair  in  its  pale  pa- 
tience. She  had  a  pistol  in  her  hand,  and  I  knew 
why  she  held  it. 


260 


CHAPTER    XXX 

OUR    FLAG    COMES    DOWN 

WE  lay  still  inside  our  fortalice  for  awhile,  listen- 
ing, as  well  as  the  throbbing  of  our  pulses  would 
allow,  to  try  and  hear  what  our  invaders  were 
doing. 

We  could  hear  the  sound  of  their  voices  down 
on  the  beach,  and  the  splashing  they  made  in  the 
water  as  they  dragged  their  dead  or  wounded 
comrades  out  of  the  water  and  hauled  their  boats 
close  up  to  the  shore.  But  beyond  this  we  heard 
nothing,  though  the  air  was  so  still,  now  that  the 
screaming  of  the  birds  had  died  away,  that  we  felt 
sure  that  we  must  hear  the  sound  of  any  advance  in 
force. 

Lancelot  whispered  to  me  that  it  was  possible 
that  they  might  put  off  their  assault  until  daybreak. 
They  were  in  this  predicament,  that  if  they  lit  any 
of  the  lights  which  we  made  no  doubt  they  carried, 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  plight  that  they  were  in, 
they  would  make  themselves  the  targets  for  our 

261 


MARJORIE 

muskets.  But  the  one  thing  certain  was  that,  under 
the  control  of  a  man  like  Jensen,  they  would  most 
certainly  not  rest  till  they  tried  to  get  the  better 
of  us. 

That  Jensen  himself  was  not  among  the  disabled 
we  felt  confident,  for  Lancelot,  who  had  a  fine  ear, 
averred  that  he  could  distinguish  the  sound  of 
Jensen's  voice  down  on  the  beach,  which  afterward 
proved  to  be  so,  for  Jensen,  unable  to  distinguish 
in  the  darkness  the  amount  of  injury  that  his  army 
had  sustained,  was  calling  over  from  memory  the 
name  of  each  man  of  his  gang.  Every  pirate  who 
answered  to  his  name  stated  the  nature  of  his 
wounds,  if  he  had  any.  Those  who  made  no  answer 
Jensen  counted  for  lost,  and  of  these  latter  there 
were  no  less  than  three. 

There  was  something  terrible  in  the  sense  of  a 
darkness  that  was  swarming  with  enemies.  We 
were  not  wholly  in  obscurity  inside  our  enclosure, 
for  we  had  a  couple  of  the  boat's  lanterns,  which 
shed  enough  light  to  enable  us  to  see  each  other, 
and  to  look  to  our  weapons,  without  allowing  any 
appreciable  light  to  escape  between  the  timbers 
of  our  fortification.  Soon  all  our  muskets  were 
loaded  again.  Lancelot  appointed  one  of  the  men 
who  came  to  us  on  the  raft,  and  who  was  still  too 

262 


OUR    FLAG    COMES    DOWN 

weak  for  active  service,  as  a  loader  of  guns,  that  in 
case  of  attack  we  could  keep  up  a  steady  firing. 
Happily  for  us,  our  supply  of  ammunition  was 
tolerably  large. 

For  some  time,  however,  we  were  left  in  peace. 
The  blackness  upon  which  the  pirates  had  counted 
as  an  advantage  had  proved  their  bane.  So  there 
was  nothing  for  them  to  do  but  to  wait  with  what 
patience  they  could  for  the  dawn. 

The  dawn  did  come  at  last,  and  I  never  watched 
its  coming  with  more  anxiety.  Often  and  often  in 
those  days  when  I  believed  myself  to  be  fathom- 
deep  in  love  I  used  to  lie  awake  on  my  bed  and 
watch  the  dawn  filling  the  sky,  and  find  in  its  sad- 
ness a  kind  of  solace  for  mine  own.  For  a  sick 
spirit  there  is  always  something  sad  about  the 
breaking  of  the  day.  Perhaps,  if  I  had  been  like 
those  who  know  the  knack  of  verses,  I  should  have 
worked  off  my  ill-humours  in  rhyme,  and  slept  bet- 
ter in  consequence,  and  greeted  the  dawn  with  joy. 
Wonder  rather  than  joy  was  in  my  mind  on  this 
morning  as  the  sky  took  colour  and  the  woods 
stirred  with  the  chatter  of  the  birds.  For  the 
pirates  had  disappeared  1  Their  boats  lay  against 
the  beach,  but  there  was,  as  it  seemed  to  us  at  first, 
no  visible  sign  of  their  masters. 

263 


MARJORIE 

We  soon  discovered  their  whereabouts,  however. 
They  had  groped,  under  cover  of  night,  to  the 
woods,  and  we  soon  had  tokens  of  their  presence. 
For  by-and-by  we  could  hear  them  moving  in  the 
wood,  and  could  catch  the  gleam  of  their  scarlet 
coats  and  the  shine  upon  their  weapons. 

In  the  wood  they  were  certainly  safe  from  us,  if 
also  we  were,  though  in  less  measure,  safe  from 
them.  As  I  have  said,  the  wooded  hill  ran  at  a 
sharp  incline  at  some  distance  from  the  place  where 
we  had  set  up  our  stockade,  so  we  were  not  com- 
manded from  above,  and,  no  matter  how  high  the 
pirates  climbed,  they  could  not  do  us  a  mischief 
in  that  way  by  firing  down  on  to  us. 

They  did  climb  high,  but  with  another  purpose, 
for  presently  we  saw,  with  rage  in  our  eyes  and 
hearts,  one  bit  of  business  they  were  bent  on.  Our 
flag  fluttered  down  like  a  wounded  bird,  and  it 
made  me  mad  to  think  that  it  was  being  hauled 
down  by  those  rascals,  and  that  we  had  no  art  to 
prevent  them. 

Could  we  do  nothing?  I  asked  Lancelot  impa- 
tiently. Could  we  not  make  a  sortie  and  destroy 
the  boats  that  lay  down  there  all  undefended?  But 
Lancelot  shook  his  head.  The  way  to  the  sea 
was  doubtless  covered  by  our  enemies  in  the  wood. 

264 


OUR    FLAG    COMES    DOWN 

We  should  only  volunteer  for  targets  if  we  attempt- 
ed to  stir  outside  our  stockade.  There  was  nothing 
for  it  but  to  wait. 

I  think  that  it  must  have  enraged  the  pirates  to 
find  us  so  well  protected  that  there  was  no  means 
of  taking  us  unawares  or  of  creeping  in  upon  us 
from  the  rear.  With  the  daylight  they  essayed 
to  hurt  us  by  firing  from  the  hill;  but  from  the 
lie  of  the  ground  their  shots  did  us  no  harm,  either 
passing  over  our  heads  or  striking  the  wall  of  our 
stronghold  and  knocking  off  a  shower  of  splinters, 
but  doing  no  further  damage.  We,  on  the  contrary, 
were  able  to  retaliate,  firing  through  our  loopholes 
up  the  slope  at  the  red  jackets  in  the  woods,  and 
with  this  much  effect,  that  soon  the  scarlet  rascals 
ceased  to  show  themselves,  and  kept  well  under 
cover.  We  felt  very  snug  where  we  were,  and  fit 
to  stand  a  siege  for  just  so  long  as  our  victuals  and 
water  held  out.  Then,  if  the  pirates  remained  upon 
the  island,  famine  would  compel  us  to  a  sortie  in 
the  hope  of  clearing  them  from  the  woods,  an  ad- 
venture in  which  our  chances  of  success  seemed  to 
kick  the  balance. 

But  it  did  not  come  to  that.  About  an  hour 
before  noon  those  of  us  who  were  at  the  loopholes 
saw  the  shine  of  a  scarlet  coat  among  the  trees  on 

265 


MARJORIE 

the  nearest  slope,  but  before  there  was  time  to  aim 
a  musket  something  white  fluttered  above  it.  It 
was,  as  it  proved,  but  a  handkerchief  tied  to  a  ram- 
rod, but  it  was  a  flag  of  truce  for  all  that,  and  a 
flag  of  truce  is  respected  by  gentlemen  of  honour, 
whoever  carries  it. 

When  the  white  flag  had  fluttered  long  enough 
for  him  who  held  it  to  make  sure  that  it  must 
have  been  seen  by  us,  the  bearer  came  out  from  the 
cover  of  the  wood  and  walked  boldly  down  the 
slope.  For  all  the  distance  the  sharp-sighted 
among  us  knew  him  at  once  for  Cornelys  Jensen, 
and  it  came  into  my  mind  that  perhaps  Lancelot 
might  refuse  to  accept  him  as  an  emissary.  Lance- 
lot, however,  said  nothing,  but  stood  quietly  wait- 
ing while  the  man  came  nearer.  But  when  he  came 
within  pitch  of  voice  Lancelot  called  out  to  him 
to  come  to  a  halt. 

Jensen  stopped  at  once  and  waited  till  Lancelot 
again  called  out  to  him  to  ask  what  he  wanted. 
Jensen  replied  that  he  came  under  the  protection 
of  a  flag  of  truce ;  that  he  wished  to  come  to  terms 
with  Captain  Amber — for  so  he  called  him — if  it 
were  by  any  means  possible ;  that  he  was  alone  and 
unarmed,  and  trusted  himself  to  our  honour. 
Thereupon  Lancelot  called  back  to  him  to  come 

266 


OUR    FLAG    COMES    DOWN 

nearer,  and  he  would  hear  what  he  had  to  say. 
We  had  driven  some  great  nails  that  we  had  with 
us  into  one  of  the  posts  of  our  wall  to  serve  as  a 
kind  of  ladder,  and  by  these  nails  Lancelot  lifted 
himself  to  the  top  of  the  palisade,  and  sat  there 
waiting  for  Jensen's  approach.  I  begged  him  not 
to  expose  himself,  but  he  answered  that  there  was 
no  danger,  so  long  as  Jensen  remained  within  short 
range  of  half  a  dozen  of  our  guns,  that  the  fellows 
in  the  woods  would  make  himself  a  target.  And  so 
he  sat  there  as  coolly  as  if  he  were  in  an  ingle, 
whistling  'Tyburn  Tree'  softly  to  himself  as  Jensen 
drew  near. 


267 


CHAPTER    XXXI 

A    PIECE    OF    DIPLOMACY 

WHEN  Jensen  was  within  a  few  feet  of  the  stock- 
ade he  halted,  and  saluted  Lancelot  with  a  formal 
gravity  that  seemed  grotesque  under  the  circum- 
stances. I  will  do  the  rascal  this  justice,  that  he 
looked  well  enough  in  his  splendid  coat,  though  his 
carriage  was  too  fantastical — more  of  the  stage 
player  than  the  soldier.  Lancelot,  looking  down 
at  the  fellow  without  returning  his  salutation,  asked 
him  what  he  wanted. 

'Come,  Captain  Amber,'  said  Jensen  boldly,  'you 
know  what  I  want  very  well.  I  want  to  come  to 
terms.  Surely  two  men  of  the  world  like  us  ought 
to  be  able  to  make  terms,  Captain  Amber.' 

'I  do  not  carry  the  title  of  Captain,'  Lancelot 
answered,  'and  I  have  no  more  in  common  with 
you  than  mere  life.  My  only  terms  are  the  uncon- 
ditional surrender  of  yourself  and  your  accom- 
plices. In  their  case  some  allowance  may  be  made. 
In  yours — none !' 

268 


A    PIECE    OF    DIPLOMACY 

Jensen  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  smiled  with 
affability  at  Lancelot's  menaces. 

'The  young  cock  cackles  louder  than  the  old  cock 
ever  crowed,'  he  said;  but  he  said  it  more  good- 
humouredly  than  sneeringly,  and  it  was  evident  that 
he  was  more  than  willing  to  propitiate  Lancelot. 
'We  ought  to  make  terms,  for  we  are  both  at  a 
loose  end  here,  and  might  at  least  agree  not  to 
annoy  each  other.  For  you  see,  Lieutenant — if  you 
will  take  that  title — that  as  you  judge  you  shall  be 
judged.  If  you  have  no  terms  for  us  we  will  have 
no  terms  for  you.' 

It  was  a  proof  of  his  own  vanity  that  he  thus 
thrust  a  title  upon  Lancelot,  thinking  to  please  him, 
for  when  Lancelot,  calling  him  by  his  surname,  told 
him  again  that  he  had  no  terms  to  make  with  him, 
he  drew  himself  up  with  an  offended  air  and  said: 

'I  call  myself  Captain  Jensen,  if  you  please.' 

'It  does  not  please  me,'  Lancelot  retorted,  'to 
call  you  anything  but  a  pirate  and  a  rogue.  Go 
back  to  your  brother  rogues  at  once !' 

To  my  surprise,  Jensen  kept  his  temper,  and 
seemed  only  hurt  instead  of  angry  at  Lancelot's 
attack. 

'Hot  words,'  he  said  quietly,  'hot  words.  Upon 
my  honour,  you  do  me  wrong,  Lieutenant  Amber, 

269 


MARJORIE 

for  I  persist  in  respecting  the  courtesies  of  war. 
I  wish  with  all  my  heart  that  we  could  agree,  but 
if  we  cannot  we  cannot,  and  there's  an  end  of  it. 
But  there  is  another  matter  I  wish  to  speak  about.' 
He  paused,  as  if  waiting  for  permission,  and  when 
Lancelot  bade  him  be  brief,  he  went  on :  'We  have 
one  among  us  who  is  more  inclined  to  your  party 
than  to  mine.  I  mean  your  reverend  friend  Parson 
Ebrow.' 

For  my  part  I  was  glad  to  hear  that  the  poor  man 
was  still  alive,  for  I  feared  that  the  pirates  had 
killed  him  after  their  first  attempt.  But  I  saw 
Lancelot's  face  flush  with  anger,  and  his  voice 
shook  as  he  called  out  that  if  any  harm  came  to 
Mr.  Ebrow  he  would  hold  every  man  of  the  gang 
responsible  for  his  life. 

'Harm  has  come  to  him  already,'  Jensen  an- 
swered ;  'but  not  from  us,  but  from  you,  his  friends. 
He  was  hurt  in  the  boats  last  night  by  your  fire.' 

At  this  Lancelot  gave  a  groan,  and  we  all  felt 
sick  and  sorry,  while  Jensen,  who  knew  that  we 
could  hear,  though  he  could  only  see  Lancelot, 
smiled  compassionately. 

'Do  not  be  alarmed,'  he  said.  'The  godly  man 
is  not  mortally  wounded.  Only  his  face,  which 
was  always  far  from  comely,  has  not  been  bettered 

270 


A    PIECE    OF    DIPLOMACY 

by  a  shot  that  travelled  across  the  side  of  the  left 
cheek  from  jaw  to  ear.  Now,  another  man  in  my 
place,  Lieutenant,  knowing  the  store  you  set  by 
the  parson,  might  very  well  use  him  to  drive  a 
bargain  with  you.  He  is  no  friend  of  ours,  and 
the  use  upon  him  of  a  little  torture  might  induce 
you  to  think  better  of  the  terms  you  deny.' 

Lancelot  grew  pale,  and  he  made  as  if  he  would 
speak,  but  Jensen  delayed  him  with  a  wave  of  the 
arm. 

'Pray  let  me  conclude,  Lieutenant  Amber,'  he 
went  on.  'Another  man,  having  such  a  hostage, 
might  use  him  pretty  roughly.  But  I  am  not  of 
that  kidney.  I  want  to  fight  fair.  The  reverend 
gentleman  is  no  use  to  me.  We  want  no  chaplain. 
He  is  a  friend  of  yours,  and  if  we  win  the  day  some 
of  you  will  be  glad  of  his  ghostly  offices.  But  he 
is  in  our  way,  and  I  cannot  answer  for  the  temper 
of  my  people  if  he  exhorts  us  any  more.  So  I  shall 
be  heartily  obliged  if  you  will  take  him  off  our 
hands  and  relieve  me  of  the  responsibility  of  his 
presence.' 

I  had  listened  to  this,  as  you  may  believe,  in 
some  amazement,  and  Lancelot  seemed  no  less 
surprised.  'What  do  you  mean?'  he  asked;  and 
Jensen  answered  him : 

271 


MARJORIE 

'I  mean  what  I  say.  You  can  have  your  parson. 
Two  of  my  men,  with  this  flag,  will  bring  him 
down,  for  the  poor  gentleman  is  too  feeble  to  walk 
alone  from  loss  of  blood,  and  leave  him  in  your 
charge.  After  that  we  will  send  no  more  messages, 
but  fight  it  out  as  well  as  we  can  till  one  or  other 
wins  the  day.' 

He  took  off  his  hat  as  he  spoke  and  made  Lance- 
lot a  bow;  and  this  time  Lancelot  returned  his 
salutation. 

'I  can  only  thank  you  for  your  offer,'  Lancelot 
said,  'and  accept  it  gladly.  If  I  cannot  change  my 
terms,  at  least  be  assured  that  this  charity  shall  be 
remembered  to  your  credit.' 

'I  ask  no  more,'  Jensen  replied;  'and  you  shall 
have  your  man  within  the  half-hour.' 

With  that  he  clapped  his  hat  proudly  upon  his 
head  again,  and  turning  on  his  heel  marched  away 
in  a  swaggering  fashion,  while  Lancelot  slipped 
down  again  into  the  shelter  of  the  house.  In  a  few 
minutes  Jensen's  red  coat  had  disappeared  among 
the  trees,  and  then  we  all  turned  and  stared  at  each 
other. 

'The  devil  is  not  so  black  as  he  is  painted,  after 
all,'  Lancelot  said  to  me,  'if  there  is  a  leaven  of 
good  in  Gornelys  Jensen.  But  I  shall  be  heartily 

272 


A    PIECE    OF    DIPLOMACY 

glad  to  have  Mr.  Ebrow  among  us,  for  if  the  worst 
come  it  will  be  better  to  perish  with  us  than  to  lie 
at  their  mercy.' 

I  did  not  altogether  relish  Lancelot's  talk  about 
our  perishing,  for  I  had  got  it  into  my  head  that 
we  were  more  than  a  match  for  the  pirates,  with 
all  their  threats  and  all  their  truculence,  and  my 
friend's  readiness  to  face  the  possibility  of  being 
victims  instead  of  victors  dashed  my  spirits.  But 
I  thought  of  Marjorie,  and  felt  that  we  must  win 
or — and  then  my  thoughts  grew  faint  and  failed 
me,  but  not  my  promise  and  my  resolve. 

We  had  not  waited  very  long  after  Jensen's 
departure  when  we  saw  signs  of  the  fulfilment  of 
his  promise.  Three  men  came  out  of  the  wood 
where  he  had  entered,  two  in  scarlet  and  one  in 
black.  We  could  see  that  the  two  men  in  scarlet 
were  supporting  the  man  in  black,  who  seemed  to 
be  almost  unable  to  move,  and  as  the  three  drew 
nearer  we  could  see,  at  first  with  a  spy-glass  and 
soon  without,  that  he  in  the  middle  had  his  face 
all  bound  about  with  bloody  cloths.  At  this  sight 
all  our  hearts  grew  hot  with  anger  and  pity,  and 
there  was  not  one  of  us  that  did  not  long  to  be  the 
first  to  reach  out  a  helping  hand  to  the  parson. 

273 


MARJORIE 

We  could  see,  as  the  group  came  nearer,  that  Jen- 
sen's men  were  not  handling  their  captive  very 
tenderly.  Though  his  limbs  seemed  so  weak  that 
his  feet  trailed  on  the  ground,  they  made  shift  to 
drag  him  along  at  a  walk  that  was  almost  a  trot, 
as  if  their  only  thought  was  to  be  rid  as  soon  as 
possible  of  their  burden,  whose  meanings  we  could 
now  plainly  hear  as  he  was  jerked  forward  by  his 
escort.  It  seemed  such  a  shocking  thing  that  a 
man  so  good  and  of  so  good  a  calling  should  be 
thus  maltreated  that,  to  speak  for  myself,  it  called 
for  all  my  sense  of  the  obligations  of  a  white  flag 
to  stay  me  from  sending  a  bullet  in  the  direction 
of  his  cowardly  companions.  I  could  see  that 
Lancelot  was  as  much  angered  as  I,  by  the  pallor 
of  his  face  and  the  way  in  which  he  clenched  his 
hands. 

However,  in  a  few  seconds  more  the  pirates  had 
hauled  their  helpless  prisoner  to  within  a  few  feet 
of  our  fortress.  Then,  to  the  increase  of  our  indig- 
nation, they  flung  him  forward  with  brutal  oaths, 
so  that  he  fell  grovelling  on  his  injured  face  just  in 
front  of  our  doorway,  and  while  he  lay  prone  one 
of  the  ruffians  dealt  him  a  kick  which  made  him 
groan  like  a  dog.  After  they  had  done  this  the  two 
red-jackets  drew  back  a  few  paces  and  waited, 

274 


A    PIECE    OF    DIPLOMACY 

according  to  the  agreement,  laughing  the  while  at 
the  plight  of  the  clergyman. 

In  a  moment,  obedient  to  a  word  from  Lance- 
lot, a  dozen  hands  lifted  the  beam  and  swung  the 
door  back.  Lancelot  sprang  forward,  followed 
hard  by  me,  to  succour  our  unhappy  friend;  and 
between  us  we  lifted  him  from  the  ground,  though 
with  some  effort,  for  he  seemed  quite  helpless  and 
senseless  with  his  ill-treatment  and  the  fall,  and 
unable  to  give  us  the  least  aid  in  supporting  him. 
Jensen's  two  brutes  jeered  at  us  for  our  pains,  bid- 
ding us  mind  our  sermon-grinder  and  the  like,  with 
many  expletives  that  I  shall  not  set  down.  Indeed, 
their  speech  and  behaviour  so  discredited  their 
mission  that  it  would  have  jeopardised  their  safety, 
for  all  their  flag  of  truce,  with  a  commander  of  less 
punctiliousness  than  Lancelot.  But  he,  without 
paying  heed  to  their  mutterings,  propped  the  pris- 
oner up  stoutly,  and  carried  him,  huddled  and  trail- 
ing, toward  the  stockade.  As  we  moved  him  he 
moaned  feebly,  and  kept  up  this  moaning  as  we  car- 
ried him  inside  the  stockade  and  drew  him  toward 
the  most  sheltered  corner  to  lay  him  down. 

My  heart  bled  for  the  parson  in  his  weakness, 
with  his  head  all  swathed  in  bloody  bandages,  and 

275 


MARJORIE 

I  shuddered  to  think  what  his  face  would  be  like 
when  we  took  off  those  coverings.  I  turned  to  pile 
some  coats  together  for  him  to  rest  upon,  but  I  was 
still  looking  at  him  as  he  hung  helpless  against 
Lancelot,  when,  in  a  breath,  before  my  astounded 
eyes,  the  limp  form  stiffened,  and  Mr.  Ebrow, 
stiff  and  strong,  flung  himself  upon  Marjorie  and 
caught  her  in  his  arms.  Quickly  though  the  act 
was  done,  I  still  had  time  to  think  that  Mr.  Ebrow' s 
calamities  had  turned  his  brain,  and  to  feel  vexa- 
tion at  the  increase  to  our  difficulties  with  a  mad- 
man in  our  midst.  In  the  next  instant  I  saw  that 
Mr.  Ebrow  was  squatting  on  the  ground  behind 
Marjorie,  sheltered  by  her  body,  which  he  held 
pinioned  to  his  with  his  left  arm,  while  his  right 
hand  held  a  pistol  close  to  her  forehead.  Then  a 
voice  that  was  not  the  voice  of  Mr.  Ebrow  called 
out  that  Marjorie  was  his  prisoner,  and  that  if 
any  man  moved  to  rescue  her  he  would  blow  the 
girl's  brains  out.  And  the  voice  that  made  these 
threats  was  the  voice  of  Cornelys  Jensen  I 

I  cannot  tell  you  how  astounded  we  were  at  this 
sudden  turn  in  our  fortunes.  Our  garrison,  taken 
by  surprise,  had  left  their  posts  every  man,  and 
stood  together  at  one  end  of  our  parallelogram. 

276 


A    PIECE    OF    DIPLOMACY 

Lancelot  stood  still  and  white  as  a  statue.  I  leant 
against  the  wall  and  gasped  for  breath  like  a  man 
struck  silly.  Marjorie  lay  perfectly  still  in  the 
grasp  of  her  enemy,  and  Jensen's  eyes  between  the 
bandages  seemed  to  survey  the  whole  scene  with  a 
savage  sense  of  mastery.  He  was  so  well  protected 
where  he  crouched  by  Marjorie's  body  that  no  one 
dared  to  fire,  or,  indeed,  for  the  moment,  to  do  any- 
thing but  stare  in  stupefaction.  The  stroke  was  so 
sudden,  the  change  so  unexpected,  the  dash  so  bold, 
that  we  were  at  a  disadvantage,  and  for  a  space 
no  one  moved. 

In  a  loud  voice  Jensen  called  upon  every  man 
to  throw  down  his  weapons,  swearing  furiously  that 
if  they  did  not  do  so  he  would  kill  Marjorie.  Mar- 
jorie, on  her  part,  though  she  could  not  free  her- 
self from  Jensen's  hold — for  Jensen  had  the  clasp 
and  the  hold  of  a  bear — cried  out  to  them  bravely, 
to  do  their  duty,  and  defend  the  place,  and  pay 
no  heed  to  her.  But  the  men  were  not  of  that 
temper;  they  were  at  a  loss;  they  feared  Jensen, 
and  this  display  of  his  daring  unnerved  them. 
They  stood  idly  in  a  mass,  while  I,  from  where  I 
stood,  could  see  through  the  open  door,  to  which  no 
one  else  paid  any  heed,  Jensen's  men  coming  out 
of  the  wood,  with  only  a  few  hundred  yards  of 

277 


MARJORIE 

level  ground  between  them  and  us.  I  was  cum- 
bered, as  I  told  you,  with  some  sea-coats,  that  I 
had  caught  up  to  make  a  couch  for  Mr.  Ebrow,  and 
as  I  held  them  to  me  with  my  left  arm,  they  almost 
covered  me  from  neck  to  knee.  Now,  in  my  pocket 
I  carried  the  little  pistol  that  Lancelot  had  given 
me,  and  in  my  first  moment  of  surprise  my  right 
hand  had  involuntarily  sought  it  out.  Now,  I  was 
not  much  of  a  shot,  and  yet  in  a  moment  I  made 
my  mind  up  what  I  would  do.  I  would,  under 
cover  of  the  coats,  which  I  clutched  to  me,  fire  my 
piece  through  my  pocket  at  Jensen,  trusting  to  God 
to  straighten  the  aim  and  guide  the  bullet.  In  that 
moment  I  took  all  the  chances.  If  I  hit  Jensen, 
who  was  somewhat  exposed  to  me  where  I  stood, 
all  would  be  well.  If  I  missed  him  and  he  at  once 
killed  Marjorie,  or  if,  missing  him,  I  myself 
wounded  or  killed  Marjorie,  I  knew  that  at  least 
I  should  be  doing  as  Marjorie  would  have  me  do, 
and  in  either  of  these  cases  we  could  despatch  Jen- 
sen and  have  up  our  barricade  again  before  help 
would  come  to  him.  All  this  takes  time  to  tell, 
but  took  no  time  in  the  thinking,  and  my  finger  was 
upon  the  trigger  when,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
something  happened  which  altered  every  purpose — 
Jensen's  and  the  others',  and  mine.  There  came 

278 


A    PIECE    OF    DIPLOMACY 

a  great  crash  through  the  air  loud  as  immediate 
thunder,  with  a  noise  that  seemed  to  shake  heaven 
above  and  earth  below  us.  Every  one  of  us  in  that 
narrow  place  knew  it  for  the  roar  of  a  ship's  gun. 


279 


CHAPTER   XXXII 

THE    SEA   GIVES    UP   ITS   QUICK 

THE  clatter  of  that  reverberation  altered  in  a  trice 
the  whole  conditions  of  our  game.  Jensen,  in  his 
surprise,  looked  up  for  a  moment,  and  in  that  mo- 
ment I  had  flung  myself  upon  him,  and  his  pistol, 
going  off,  spent  its  bullet  harmlessly  in  the  skies. 
In  another  second  he  had  knocked  me  to  the  ground 
with  a  force  that  nearly  stunned  me;  but  before  he 
could  use  another  weapon  twenty  hands  were  upon 
him,  and  twenty  weapons  would  have  ended  him 
but  for  Lancelot's  command  to  take  him  alive.  In 
a  trice  we  had  flung  our  door  in  its  place  and  swung 
the  beam  across,  and  there  we  were,  none  the  worse 
for  our  adventure,  with  the  chief  of  our  enemies 
fast  prisoner  in  our  hands.  Already  the  pirates 
were  scouring  back  into  the  woods,  and  though 
certain  of  our  men  had  the  presence  of  mind  to 
empty  their  muskets  after  them,  and  bring  down 
the  two  rogues  who  had  carried  the  sham  Ebrow 

280 


THE    SEA   GIVES    UP    ITS   QUICK 

to  us,  most  of  us  were  occupied  in  peering  through 
the  loopholes  on  the  other  side  of  the  fortress  at  a 
blessed  sight.  Not  half  a  mile  away  rode  the  ship 
that  had  fired  the  shot;  the  smoke  of  the  discharge 
was  still  in  the  air  about  her.  She  was  a  frigate, 
and  she  flew  the  Dutch  flag. 

You  may  imagine  with  what  a  rapture  we  saw 
that  frigate  and  that  flag.  It  could  only  mean 
succour,  and  we  were  sick  at  heart  to  think  that 
we  had  no  flag  with  us  to  fly  in  answer.  But  we 
waited  and  watched  with  beating  hearts  behind  our 
walls,  and  presently  we  could  see  that  a  boat  was 
lowered  and  that  men  came  over  the  side  and  filled 
it,  and  then  it  began  to  make  for  Fair  Island  as  fast 
as  stroke  of  oar  could  carry  it.  With  a  cry  of  joy 
Lancelot  thrust  his  spy-glass  into  my  hand,  crying 
out  to  me  that  Captain  Amber  was  on  board  the 
boat.  And  so  indeed  he  was,  for  I  had  no  sooner 
clapped  the  glass  to  my  eye  than  there  I  saw  him, 
sitting  in  the  stern  in  his  brave  blue  coat,  and  at 
the  sight  of  him  my  heart  gave  a  great  leap  for 
joy.  We  opened  our  seaward  gate  at  once,  and  in 
a  moment  Marjorie  and  Lancelot  and  I  were  racing 
to  the  strand,  followed  by  half  a  dozen  others,  leav- 
ing the  stockade  well  guarded,  and  orders  to  shoot 
Jensen  on  the  first  sign  of  any  return  of  the  pirates 

281 


MARJORIE 

from  the  woods.  Though,  indeed,  we  felt  pretty 
sure  that  they  would  make  no  further  attempt 
against  us,  having  lost  their  leader,  and  being  now 
menaced  by  this  new  and  unexpected  peril. 

As  the  boat  drew  nearer  shore  Lancelot  tied  a 
handkerchief  to  the  point  of  his  cutlass  and  waved 
it  in  the  air,  and  at  sight  of  it  the  figure  in  blue  in 
the  stern  raised  his  hat,  and  the  men  rowing,  seeing 
him  do  this,  raised  a  lusty  cheer,  and  pulled  with  a 
warmer  will  than  ever,  so  that  in  a  few  more  min- 
utes their  keel  grated  on  the  sand. 

Captain  Amber  leaped  out  of  the  boat  like  a  boy, 
splashing  through  the  water  to  join  us,  while  the 
Dutch  seamen  hauled  the  boat  up  and  stared  at  us 
stolidly.  Captain  Amber  clasped  Marjorie's  hand 
and  murmured  to  himself  'Thank  God !'  while  tears 
stood  in  his  china-blue  eyes,  and  were  answered, 
for  the  first  time  that  I  ever  saw  them  there,  by 
tears  in  Marjorie's.  Next  he  embraced  Lancelot, 
and  then  he  turned  to  me  and  wrung  my  hand  with 
the  same  heartiness  as  on  that  first  day  in  Sendennis, 
and  it  seemed  to  me  for  the  moment  as  if  that  strand 
and  island  and  all  those  leagues  of  land  and  water 
had  ceased  to  be,  and  I  were  back  again  in  the 
windy  High  Street,  with  my  mother's  shop-bell 
tinkling. 

282 


THE    SEA    GIVES    UP    ITS    QUICK 

Only  for  a  moment,  however.  There  was  no 
time  for  day-dreams.  Hurriedly  we  told  Captain 
Amber  all  that  we  had  to  tell.  Much  of  the  ugly 
story  we  found  that  he  knew,  and  how  he  knew  you 
shall  learn  later.  Our  immediate  duty  was  to 
secure  the  pirates  who  were  still  at  large  on  the 
island,  and  this  proved  an  easy  business.  For  the 
Dutch  commander,  who  claimed  the  authority  of 
his  nation  for  all  that  region,  sent  one  of  his  men 
with  a  flag  of  truce,  accompanied  by  one  of  us  for 
interpreter,  to  let  them  know  that  if  they  did  not 
surrender  unconditionally  he  would  first  bombard 
the  wood  in  which  they  sheltered,  and  then  land  a 
party  of  men,  who  would  cut  down  any  survivors 
without  mercy.  As  there  was  no  help  for  it,  the 
pirates  did  surrender.  They  came  out  of  the 
woods,  a  sorry  gang,  and  laid  down  their  arms, 
and  with  the  help  of  the  Dutchmen,  who  lent  us 
irons,  we  soon  had  the  whole  band  manacled  and 
helpless. 

So  there  was  an  end  of  this  most  nefarious 
mutiny.  With  Cornelys  Jensen  fast  in  fetters  the 
heart  of  the  business  would  have  been  broken  even 
without  help  from  the  sea.  There  was  no  man  of 
all  the  others  who  was  at  all  his  peer,  either  for 
villainy  or  for  enterprise  and  daring.  Even  if 

283 


MARJORIE 

there  had  been,  the  pirates  would  have  had  no 
great  chance,  while,  as  it  was,  their  case  had  no 
hope  in  it,  and  they  succumbed  to  their  fate  in  a 
kind  of  sullen  apathy.  Honest  men  had  triumphed 
over  rogues  once  more  in  the  swing  of  the  world's 
story,  as  I  am  heartily  glad  to  believe  that  in  the 
long  run  they  always  have  done  and  always  will 
do,  until  the  day  when  rogues  and  righteous  meet 
for  the  last  time. 

We  soon  heard  of  all  that  had  happened  to  Cap- 
tain Marmaduke  after  he  left  the  Royal  Chris- 
topher— or  rather,  after  he  had  been  forced  to 
put  forth  from  Early  Island.  It  had  been  Captain 
Marmaduke's  intention  to  make  for  Batavia,  in  the 
certainty  of  finding  ships  and  succour  there.  By 
the  good  fortune  of  the  fair  weather,  his  course, 
if  slow  by  reason  of  the  little  wind,  was  untroubled ; 
and  by  happy  chance,  ere  he  had  come  to  the  end, 
he  sighted  the  Dutch  frigate,  and  spoke  her.  The 
Dutch  captain  consented  to  carry  Captain  Amber 
back  to  the  wreck.  On  their  arrival  at  Early  Island 
they  found  the  place  in  the  possession  of  a  few 
half-drunken  mutineers,  who  were  soon  over- 
powered, and  they  learnt  the  tale  of  Jensen's 
treachery  from  the  lips  of  the  captive  women.  It 
was  then  that  they  sailed  for  Fair  Island,  with  the 

284 


THE    SEA   GIVES    UP    ITS    QUICK 

women  and  prisoners  on  board,  and  arrived  just  in 
time  to  serve  us  the  best  turn  in  the  world. 

There  was  nothing  for  us  now  to  do  but  to  ship 
off  our  prisoners  to  Batavia  in  the  frigate,  where 
they  would  be  dealt  with  by  Dutch  justice,  and  be 
hanged  with  all  decorum,  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  civilised  States.  We  were  to  go  with  the 
frigate  ourselves,  for  at  Batavia  it  was  our  Cap- 
tain's resolve  to  buy  him  a  new  ship  and  so  turn 
home  to  his  own  people  and  his  own  country,  and 
try  his  hand  no  more  at  colonies,  which  was  indeed 
the  wisest  thing  he  could  do.  Let  me  say  here  that 
to  our  great  satisfaction  we  found  Mr.  Ebrow  in 
the  woods,  tied  nearly  naked  to  a  tree,  alive  and 
well,  if  very  weak;  but  without  a  complaint  on 
his  lips  or  in  his  heart. 

I  was  one  of  the  earliest  to  go  aboard  the  frigate, 
and  the  first  sight  I  saw  on  her  decks  was  a  group 
of  women  huddled  together  in  all  the  seeming  of 
despair.  These  were  the  victims  of  the  pirates' 
lust,  and  as  they  sat  together  they  would  wail  now 
and  then  in  a  way  that  was  pitiful  to  hear.  But 
there  was  one  woman  who  sat  a  little  apart  from 
the  others  and  held  her  head  high,  and  this  woman 
was  Barbara  Hatchett.  I  scarce  knew  if  I  should 
approach  her  or  no,  but  when  she  saw  me,  which 

285 


MARJORIE 

was  the  moment  I  came  aboard,  she  made  me  a  sign 
with  her  head,  and  I  at  once  went  up  to  her.  All 
the  warm  colour  had  gone  out  of  her  dark  face, 
and  the  fire  had  faded  from  her  dark  eyes,  but  she 
was  still  very  beautiful  in  her  misery,  and  she  car- 
ried herself  grandly,  like  a  ruined  queen.  As  I 
looked  at  her  my  mind  went  back  to  that  first  day 
I  ever  saw  her  and  was  bewitched  by  her,  and  then 
to  that  other  day  when  I  found  her  in  the  sea- 
fellow's  arms  and  thought  the  way  of  the  world 
was  ended.  And  for  the  sake  of  my  old  love  and 
my  old  sorrow  my  heart  was  racked  for  her,  and 
I  could  have  cried  as  I  had  cried  that  day  upon 
the  downs.  But  there  were  no  tears  in  the  woman's 
eyes,  and  as  I  came  she  stood  up  and  held  out  her 
hand  to  me  with  an  air  of  pride;  and  I  am  glad. to 
think  that  I  had  the  grace  to  kiss  it  and  to  kneel  as 
I  kissed  it. 

'Well,  Ralph,'  she  said,  'this  is  a  queer  meeting 
for  old  friends  and  old  flames.  We  did  not  think 
of  this  in  the  days  when  we  watched  the  sea  and 
waited  for  my  ship.' 

I  could  say  nothing,  but  she  went  on,  and  her 
voice  was  quite  steady : 

'This  is  a  grand  ship,  but  it  is  not  my  ship.  My 
286 


THE    SEA    GIVES    UP    ITS    QUICK 

ship  came  in  and  my  ship  went  out,  and  the  devil 
took  it  and  my  heart's  desire  and  me.' 

She  was  silent  for  a  moment,  and  then  she  asked 
me  what  the  boats  were  bringing  from  the  island. 
I  told  her  that  they  were  conveying  the  prisoners 
aboard  to  be  carried  to  trial  at  Batavia.  She  heard 
me  with  a  changeless  face,  as  she  looked  across  the 
sea  where  the  ship's  boats  were  making  their  way  to 
the  ship,  and  after  awhile  she  asked  me  if  I  thought 
that  we  were  bound  to  forgive  our  enemies  and 
those  who  had  used  us  evilly. 

I  was  at  a  loss  what  to  answer,  but  I  stammered 
out  somewhat  to  the  effect  that  such  was  our  Chris- 
tian duty.  The  words  stuck  a  little  in  my  throat, 
for  I  did  not  feel  in  a  forgiving  mood  at  that  mo- 
ment. 

'So  Mr.  Ebrow  tells  us,'  she  went  on  softly. 
Mr.  Ebrow  had  been  sent  on  board  at  once,  and 
had  immediately  devoted  himself,  sick  and  weak 
though  he  was,  to  ministrations  among  the  unhappy 
women.  'So  Mr.  Ebrow  says,  and  he  is  a  good 
man,  and  ought  to  know  best.  Shall  I  forgive, 
Ralph,  shall  I  forgive?' 

There  was  to  me  something  infinitely  touching 
in  the  way  in  which  she  spoke  to  me,  as  if  she  felt 

287 


MARJORIE 

she  had  a  claim  upon  me — the  claim  that  a  sister 
might  have  upon  a  brother. 

I  told  her  that  Mr.  Ebrow,  being  a  man  of  God, 
was  a  better  guide  and  counsellor  than  I,  but  that 
forgiveness  was  a  noble  charity.  Indeed,  I  was  at 
a  loss  what  to  say,  with  my  heart  so  wrung. 

'Well,  well,'  she  said,  'let  us  forgive  and  forget,' 
and — for  there  was  no  restraint  upon  the  move- 
ments of  the  woman — she  moved  toward  the  side, 
where  they  were  lifting  the  manacled  prisoners  on 
board.  Jensen  was  in  the  first  batch,  but  not  the 
first  to  be  brought  on  board,  and  he  carried  himself 
sullenly,  with  his  eyes  cast  down,  and  seemed  to 
notice  nothing  as  he  was  brought  up  on  the  deck. 
The  prisoners  were  so  securely  bound  that  no  espe- 
cial guard  was  placed  over  them  during  the  process 
of  taking  them  from  the  boats,  and  so,  before  I 
was  aware  of  it,  Barbara  had  slipped  by  me  and 
between  the  Dutch  sailors,  and  was  by  Jensen's  side. 
For  the  moment  I  thought  that  she  had  come  to 
carry  out  her  promise  of  forgiveness;  but  Jensen 
lifted  his  face,  and  I  saw  it,  and  saw  that  it  was 
writhed  with  a  great  horror  and  a  great  fear.  And 
then  I  saw  her  lift  her  hand,  and  saw  a  knife  in 
her  hand,  and  the  next  moment  she  had  driven  it 
once  and  twice  into  his  breast  by  the  heart,  and 

288 


THE    SEA   GIVES    UP    ITS    QUICK 

Jensen  dropped  like  a  log,  and  his  blood  ran  over 
the  deck.  Then  she  turned  to  me,  and  her  face  was 
as  red  as  fire,  and  she  cried  out,  'Forgive  and  for- 
get !'  and  so  drove  the  knife  into  her  own  body  and 
fell  in  her  turn.  It  was  all  done  so  swiftly  that 
there  was  no  time  for  anyone  to  lift  a  hand  to  inter- 
fere, and  when  we  came  to  lift  them  up  they  were 
both  dead.  This  was  the  end  of  that  beautiful 
woman,  and  this  the  end  of  Cornelys  Jensen.  He 
should  have  lived  to  be  hanged;  it  was  too  good 
a  death  for  him  to  die  by  her  hand;  but  I  can 
understand  how  it  seemed  to  her  hot  blood  and  her 
wronged  womanhood  that  she  could  only  wash  out 
her  shame  by  shedding  her  wronger' s  blood.  May 
Heaven  have  mercy  upon  her! 


289 


CHAPTER    XXXIII 

THE    LAST    OF    THE    SHIP 

IT  was  many  a  weary  month  before  we  saw  Sen- 
dennis  again,  but  we  did  see  it  again.  For  Captain 
Marmaduke  was  so  dashed  by  the  untoward  results 
of  his  benevolence  and  the  failure  of  his  scheme 
that  he  saw  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  turn  home- 
ward, after  mending  his  fortunes  by  the  sale  of  the 
greater  part  of  his  Dutch  plantations.  A  portion, 
however,  he  set  apart  and  made  over  as  a  settlement 
for  the  remnant  of  the  colonists,  who,  having  got 
so  far,  had  no  mind  to  turn  back,  and  as  an  asylum 
for  the  wretched  women.  With  the  aid  of  the 
Dutchmen  we  got  the  Royal  Christopher  off  her 
reef  and  made  shift  to  tow  her  into  harbourage  at 
Batavia,  and  there  Captain  Amber  sold  her  and 
bought  another  vessel,  wherein  we  made  the  best  of 
our  way  back  to  England,  with  no  further  advent- 
ures to  speak  of.  At  Sendennis  I  had  the  joy  to 
find  my  mother  alive  and  well,  and  the  wonder  to 
find  that  my  birth-place  seemed  to  have  grown 
smaller  in  my  absence,  but  was  otherwise  un- 
changed. 

290 


THE    LAST    OF    THE    SHIP 

And  at  Sendennis  the  best  thing  happened  to  me 
that  can  happen  to  any  man  in  the  world.  For  one 
morning,  soon  after  our  home-coming,  I  prayed 
Marjorie  to  walk  with  me  a  little  ways,  and  she 
consented,  and  we  went  together  outside  the  town 
and  into  the  free  sweet  country.  We  fared  till  we 
came  to  that  place  where  Lancelot  once  had  found 
me,  drowned  in  folly,  and  there  I  showed  Marjorie 
the  picture  that  Lancelot  had  given  me,  the  picture 
of  her  younger  self.  And  somehow  as  she  took  it 
from  my  hands  and  looked  at  it  there  came  a  little 
tremor  to  her  lips  and  my  soul  found  words  for 
me  to  speak.  I  told  her  again  that  I  loved  her,  that 
I  should  love  her  to  the  end  of  my  days.  I  do 
not  remember  all  I  said;  I  dare  say  my  words 
would  show  blunderingly  enough  on  plain  paper, 
but  she  listened  to  them  quietly,  looking  at  the  sea 
with  steady  eyes.  When  I  had  done  she  stood  still 
for  a  little,  and  then  answered,  and  I  remember 
every  word  she  said. 

'We  are  young,  you  and  I,  but  I  do  not  believe 
we  are  changeable.  I  feel  very  sure  that  you  have 
spoken  the  truth  to  me;  be  very  sure  that  I  am 
speaking  the  truth  to  you.  I  love  you !' 

And  so  for  the  first  time  our  lips  met  and  the 
glory  came  into  my  life.  I  sailed  the  seas  and  made 

291 


MARJORIE 

my  fortune  and  married  my  heart's  desire,  and  we 
roved  the  world  together  year  after  year,  and 
always  the  glory  staying  with  me  in  all  its  morning 
brightness. 

All  my  life  long  I  have  hated  parting  from 
friends,  parting  from  familiar  faces  and  familiar 
places.  Yet  by  the  course  which  it  has  pleased 
Providence  to  give  to  my  life  it  has  been  my  lot 
to  have  many  partings,  both  with  well-loved  men 
and  women  and  with  well-loved  lands  and  dwell- 
ings. It  is  the  plague  of  the  wandering  life, 
pleasant  as  it  is  in  so  many  things,  that  it  does  of 
necessity  mean  the  clasping  of  so  many  hands  in 
parting,  that  it  does  of  necessity  mean  the  saying 
of  so  many  farewells.  Yet,  after  all,  parting  is  the 
penalty  of  man  for  his  transgression,  and  the  most 
stay-at-home,  lie-by-the-fire  fellow  has  his  share 
with  the  rest.  Thus  the  philosopher  by  tempera- 
ment, like  my  Lord  Chesterfield,  takes  his  friend- 
ships and  even  his  loves  upon  an  easy  covenant,  and 
the  religious  accept  in  resignation,  and  the  rest  shift 
as  best  they  can.  And  so  I  hold  out  my  hand  and 
wish  you  good  luck  and  God-speed ! 

THE    END 


292 


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